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Cover  title  missing/ 

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Coloured  maps/ 

Cartes  gdographiques  en  couleur 

Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 

Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
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Bound  with  other  material/ 
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□    Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommag^es 

□    Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restaur^es  et/ou  pellicul6es 


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Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
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University  of  Waterloo 

The  images  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
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University  of  Waterloo 

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TIJ 


AUTHOR 
JES 


Lr 


THE    OLD    REGIME 


IN 


CANADA. 


BY 


FRANCIS    PARKMAN, 

AUTHOR  OP  ..r,o>KKns  OK  K,uxcK  .N  x„B  .Kw  won.n.'.  ".„K 

JESUITS   KN    >...HT„   XMKH.CA,"    ....    u  ,„,    ^,^^^^^^^^ 
OF    THE    GKEAT    WEST." 


soh2> 

/7  7^^. 


^^OSTON: 
LITTLE.   BROWN,   AND    COMPANY. 

187L 


Propsrty  of  the  Library 
Universiby  of  Waterloo 


miimmiii^ 


o 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1874,  by 

FUANCIS   TAHKMAN, 

In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


My  dear  I 
When,  i) 
Frencli   in 
kindness  hai 
'  tion  of  this 


TO 


GEORCxE   EDWARD    ELLIS,  D.D. 


My  dear  Dr.  Ellis: 

When,  in  my  youth,  I  proposed  to  write  <a  series  of  books  on  the 
Frcncli  in  America,  you  encouraged  the  attempt,  and  your  lielpful 
kindness  has  followeil  it  from  tliat  day  to  this.  Pray  accept  the  dedica- 
tion of  this  volume  in  token  of  the  grateful  regard  of 

Very  faithfully  yours, 

FRANCIS   PARKMAN. 


P 


i^tmiiiitui,^^ 


"  Tin 
Tocque^ 
for   the 

I  lai'ger  a 

of  the  s 

of  Louis 

,  ity  is  th( 

I      The  r 

f  the  hei(j 
its  supre 
Atlantic 
nent.     T 
methods 
achieved 

[failed  at 
fallen,  an 

[vailed,  s( 
contrasts 
lutism  CO 
us.  Ext] 
racy  ofte: 


PREFACE. 


"  The  physiognomy  of  a  government,"  says  De 
Tocqueville,  *' can  best  be  judged  in  its  colonies, 
lOr  there  its  characteristic  traits  usually  appear 
larger  and  more  distinct.  When  I  wish  to  judge 
of  the  spirit  and  the  faults  of  the  administration 
of  Louis  XIV.,  I  must  go  to  Canada.  Its  deform- 
ity is  there  seen  as  through  a  microscope." 

The  monarchical  administration  of  France,  at 
the  height  of  its  power  and  at  the  moment  of 
its  supreme  triumph,  stretched  an  arm  across  the 
Atlantic  and  grasped  the  North  American  conti- 
nent. This  volume  attempts  to  show  by  what 
methods  it  strove  to  make  good  its  hold,  why  it 
achieved  a  certain  kind  of  success,  and  why  it 
I  failed  at  last.  The  political  system  which  has 
fallen,  and  the  antagonistic  system  which  has  pre- 
I vailed,  seem,  at  first  sight,  to  offer  nothing  but 
contrasts;  yet  out  of  the  tomb  of  Canadian  abso- 
lutism come  voices  not  without  suggestion  even  to 
us.  Extremes  meet,  and  Autocracy  and  Democ- 
racy often  touch  hands,  at  least  in  their  vices. 


-^Si^m^v'yui^^^'^^ 


Vill 


PREFACE. 


The  means  of  knowing  the  Canachi  of  the  past 
are  ample.  The  pen  was  always  busy  in  this  out- 
post of  the  old  monarchy.  The  king  and  the  min- 
ister demanded  to  know  every  thin<z: ;  and  ofHcials 
of  high  and  low  degree,  soldiers  and  civilians, 
friends  and  foes,  poured  letters,  despatches,  and 
memorials,  on  both  sides  of  every  question,  into 
the  lap  of  government.  These  masses  of  paper 
have  in  the  main  survived  the  perils  of  revolutions 
and  the  incendiary  torch  of  the  Commune.  Add 
to  them  the  voluminous  records  of  the  Superior 
Council  of  Quebec,  and  numerous  other  documents 
preserved  in  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  depositories 
of  Canada. 

The  governments  of  New  York  and  of  Canada 
have  caused  a  large  part  of  the  papers  in  tho 
French  archives,  relating  to  their  early  history,  to 
be  copied  and  brought  to  America,  and  valual)le 
contributions  of  material  from  the  same  quarter 
have  been  made  by  the  State  of  Massachusetts  and 
by  private  Canadian  investigators.  Nevertheless. 
a  great  deal  has  still  remained  in  France,  uncopied 
and  unexplored.  In  the  course  of  several  visits  to 
that  country,  I  have  availed  myself  of  these  sup- 
plementary papers,  as  v^ell  as  of  those  which  had 
before  been  copied,  sparing  neither  time  nor  pains 
to  explore  every  part  of  the  field.  With  the  help 
of  a  system  of  classified  notes,  I  have  collated  tlie 
evidence   of    the  various   writers,  and   set   down 


witliou 

whet  he 

are  of  i 

be  agr 

cordial 

facts  11 

reiiH'iiil 

overtlu 

on  whi 

cvidenc 

task  wi 

I  ha) 

ries  fro 

M.  Piei 

Marine 

to  acki 

Raymoi 

Quebec, 

Esq.,  M 

and  otl 

risse,  E 

Thef 

are  prin 

of  the 

const  ru( 

'  Those 
mint'  ciiniKj 
witli  tlie  e 
8CTij)tion  of 
lated  with  i 


f  the  past 
1  this  oiit- 
:1  the  iiiin- 
wd  officials 
civilians, 
tches,  and 
stion,  into 
;  of  paper 
•evohitions 
une.  Add 
B  Superior 
documents 
lepositories 

of  Canada 

>ers  in  tli«! 

history,  to 

d  valuable 

ne  quarter 

lusetts  and 

vertheless. 

s,  uncopied 

•al  visits  to 

these  sup- 

which  hud 

e  nor  pains 

th  the  help 

iollated  tlie 

set   down 


1 

J 
•v 

f 

I 


PHEFACE. 


IX 


without  reserve  all  the  results  of  the  examination, 
whether  favorable  or  unfavorable.  Some  of  them 
are  of  a  character  whicdi  I  regret,  since  they  cannot 
be  agreeable  to  persons  for  whom  I  have  a  very 
cordial  regard.  The  conclusions  drawn  from  the 
facts  may  be  matter  of  opinion,  but  it  will  be 
reuicmbered  that  the  facts  themselves  can  be 
overthrown  only  by  overthrowing  the  evidence 
on  which  they  rest,  or  bringing  forward  counter- 
evidence  of  equal  or  greater  strength  ;  and  neither 
task  will  be  found  an  easy  one.^ 

I  have  received  most  valuable  aid  in  my  inqui- 
ries from  the  great  knowledge  and  experience  of 
M.  Pierre  Margry,  Chief  of  the  Archives  of  the 
]\Iarine  and  Colonies  at  Paris.  I  be<i:  also  warudv 
to  acknowledge  the  kind  offices  of  Abbe  Henri 
Raymond  Casgrain  and  Grand  Vicar  Cazeau,  of 
Quebec,  together  with  those  of  James  LeMoine, 
Esq.,  M.  Eugene  Taclie,  Hon.  P.  J.  0.  Chauveau, 
and  other  eminent  Canadians,  and  Henry  Har- 
risse,  Esq. 

The  few  extracts  from  original  documents,  which 
are  printed  in  the  appendix,  may  serve  as  samples 
of  the  material  out  of  wdiicli  the  work  has  been 
constructed.     In  some   instances  their   testimonv 

'  Those  wlu)  wish  to  see  the  subject  from  a  point  of  view  opposite  to 
mine  cannot  do  l)etter  tlian  consult  tlie  work  of  the  Jesuit  Charlevoix, 
with  tlie  excellent  aujiotation  of  Mr.  Shea.  ( History  and  General  De- 
scription of  New  France,  by  the  Rev.  T.  F.  X.  de  Charlevoix,  S.I.,  trans- 
lated with  notes  by  John  Gilmary  Shea.  6  vols.    New  York  :  1866-1872.) 


■n;.  ^ 


X 


PREFACE. 


iiiighu  be  multiplied  twenty-fold.  When  the  place 
of  deposit  of  the  documents  cited  in  the  margin 
is  not  otherwise  indicated,  they  will,  in  nearly  all 
cases,  be  found  in  the  Archives  of  the  Marine 
and  Colonies. 

In  the  present  book  we  examine  the  political 
and  social  machine ;  in  the  next  volume  of  the 
series  we  shall  see  this  machine  in  action. 


Boston,  July  1, 1874. 


CONTENTS. 


I. 


THE   PERIOD   OF   TllAXSITION. 


CHAPTER  I. 

1053-1G58. 

TUB  JESUITS    AT   ONONDAOA. 


Tlie  Iroquois  War. —  Ftitlier  Poncet.  —  His  Adventures. — Jesuit 
HoKlui'ss.  —  Le  Moyne's  Mission.  —  Cliaunioiiot  and  Dablon. — 

—  Iroquois   Ferocity.  —  The    Moiiawk    Kidnappers.  —  Critical 
Position.  —  The  Colony  of  ()non(higa.  —  Speech  of  Cliaumoiiot. 

—  Omens  of  Destruction.  —  Device  of  the  Jesuits.  —  The  Medi- 
cine Feast.  —  Tile  Escape 


Paok 


CHAPTER  II. 

1642-1661. 

THE   HOLY   WARS   OF   MOXTUEAL. 

Dauversibre.  —  Mance  and  Rourjjeoys.  —  Miracle.  —  A  Pious  De- 
faulter. —  Jesuit  and  Sulpitian.  —  Montreal  in  165'J.  —  The 
Hospital  Nuns.  —  Tiie  Nuns  and  the  Iroquois.  —  More  Miracles. 
—  The  Murdered  Priests.  —  Brigeac  and  Closse. —  Soldiers  of 
the  Holy  P'aniily 41 


CHAPTER   III. 

1660,  1661. 

THE    HEROES   OF  THE    LONG    SATTT. 

Sufferino;  and  Terror. —  Fran(,*ois  Hertel.  —  The  Captive  Wolf. — 
The  threatened  Invasion. —  Daulac  des  Ornieaux.  —  The  Ad- 
venturers at  the  Long  Saut.  —  The  Attack.  —  A  Desperate 
Defence.  —  A  Final  Assault.  —  The  Fort  taken 


63 


Xll 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

1657-1668. 

THE   DISPUTED   BISHOPRIC. 


PAan 


Domestic  Strife. — Jesuit  and  Sulpitian.  —  Abbe'  Queylus.  —  Fran- 
9ois  de  Laval.  —  Tlie  Zealots  of  Caen.  —  Galilean  and  Ultra- 
n'ontane.  —  The  Rival  Claimants.  —  Storm  at  Quebec.  —  Laval 
Triumphant 83 

CHAPTER  V. 

1659,  1060. 

LAVAL  AND   ARGENSOX. 


Fran9ois  de  Laval.  —  His  Position  and  Character. 
Argenson.  —  Tlie  Quarrel 


■Arrival  of 


103 


CHAPTER  VI. 

1658-1663. 

LAVAL  AND   AVAUGOOR. 

Reception  of  Argenson.  —  His  Difficulties.  —  His  Recall.  —  Dubois 
d'Avaugour.  —  The  Brandy  Quarrel.  —  Distress  of  Laval.  — 
Portents.  —  The  Earthquake 115 


iiii 


CHAPTER  Vn. 

1661-1664. 

LAVAL  AND   DtTMESNIL. 

Per  )nne  Dumesnil.  —  The  Old  Council.  —  Alleged  Murder,  —  The 
New  Council.  —  Bourdon  and  Villeray. —  Strong  Measures. — 
Escape  of  Dumesnil. —  Views  of  Colbert 131 

CHAPTER  VIIL 

1657-1665. 

LAVAL   AND   MEZT. 

The  Bishop's  Choice.  —  A  Military  Zealot.  —  Hopeful  Beginnings. 
—  Signs  of  Storm.  —  The  Quarrt-l.  —  Distress  of  Me'zy.  —  He 
Refuses  to  Yield.  —  His  Defeat  and  Death 145 


CONTENTS. 


XIU 


CHAPTER  IX. 

1662-168* 

laval  and  the  seminary. 

Paob 

Laval's  Visit  to  Court.  —  The  Seminary.  —  Zeal  of  the  Bishop. 
—  His  Eulogists.  —  Church  and  State.  — Attitude  of  Laval  .     .    159 


11. 


THE  COLONY  AND  THE  KING. 


CHAPTER  X. 

1661-1666. 

ROYAL   INTERVENTION. 

Fontainebleau.  —  Louis  XIV.  —  Colbert.  —  The  Company  of  the 
West.  — Evil  Omens.  —  Action  of  the  King.  —  Tracy,  Courcelle, 
and  Talon.  —  The  Regiment  of  Carignan-Saliferes.  —  Tracy  at 
Quebec.  —  Miracles. — A  Holy  War 169 


/ 


CHAPTER  XL 

1666,  1667. 

THE   MOHAWKS   CHASTISED. 

Courcelle's  March.  —  His  Failure  and  Return.  —  Courcelle  and  the 
Jesuits.  —  Mohawk  Treachery. —  Tracy's  Expedition.  —  Burning 
of  the  Mohawk  Towns.  — French  and  English.  —  DoUier  de  Cas- 
son  at  St.  Anne.  —  Peace.  —  The  Jesuits  and  the  Iroquois     .    .     186 


CHAPTER  XII. 
1665-1672. 

PATEKNAL  GOVERNMENT. 

Talon.  —  Restriction  and  Monopoly.  —  Views  of  Colbert.  —  Political 
Galvanism. — A  Father  of  the  People 


207 


/ 


I 


.'W/**!«tesli» 


XIV 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XIIL 

1661-1673. 

MARRIAGE   AND   POPULATION. 


Pagb 


Shipment  of  Emigrants.  —  Soldier  Settlers.  —  Importation  of 
Wives.  —  Wedlock.  —  Summary  Methods.  —  The  Mothers  of 
Canada. —  Bounties  on  Marriage. —  Celibacy  Punished. — Boun- 
ties on  Children.  —  Results 215 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
1665-1672. 


THE   NEW   HOME. 


Military  Frontier.  —  The  Canadian  Settler.  —  Seignior  and  Vassal. 
—  Example    of     Talon.  —  Plan    of    Settlement.  —  Asnect   of 


Cgjiijdji^^jj^^uebec.  —  The  River  Settlements.  —  Montreal.  — 
The  Pioneers    . 231 


CHAPTER  XV. 

1663-1763. 

CANADIAN  FEUDALISM. 

Transplantation  of  Feudalism.  —  Precautions.  —  Faith  and  Homage. 
—  The  Seignior. —  The  Censitaire. —  Royal  Intervention.  —  The 
Gentilhomme.  —  Canadian  Noblesse 243 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


1663-1703. 


THE   RULERS   OF   CANADA. 


Nature  of  the  Government.  —  The  Governor.  —  The  Council.  — 
Courts  and  Judges. —  The  Intcndnnt. —  His  Grievances.  —  Strong 
Goven  .uent.  —  Sedition  and  Blasphemy.  —  Royal  Bounty.  — 
Defects  and  Abuses 2C4 


^1  Social  Influen 

/  ^m      Violence  ai 

Dcnonville. 


CONTENTS. 


XV 


CHAPTER  XVIL 

1663-1763. 


TRADE   AND   INDUSTRY, 


Page 


Trade  in  Fetters.  —  The  Huguenot  Merchants.  —  Royal  Patronage. 

—  The  Fisheries. —  Cries  for  Help.  —  Agriculture.  —  Manufact- 
ures.— Arts  of  Ornament.  —  Finance.  —  Card  Money.  —  Repudi- 
ation.— Imposts.  —  The  Beaver  Trade.  —  The  Fair  at  Montreal. 

—  Contraband  Trade.  —  A  Fatal  System.  —  Trouble  and 
Change.  —  The  Coureurs  de  Bois.  —  Tlie  Forest.  —  Letter  of 
Carheil 289 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 
1663-1702. 

THE   MISSIONS.      THE    BRANDY   QUESTION. 

The  Jesuits  and  the  Iroquois.  —  Mission  Villages.  —  Michilliraack- 
inac.  —  Father  Carheil.  —  Temperance.  —  Brandy  and  the 
Indians.  —  Strong  Measures.  —  Disputes.  —  License  and  Pro- 
hibition. —  Views  of  the  King.  —  Trade  and  the  Jesuits    .    .    . 


816 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

1663-1763. 

PRIESTS   AND   PEOPLE. 


Church  and  State.  —  The  Bishop  and  the  King.  —  The  King  and 
the  Cure's.  —  The  New  Bishop.  —  "^he  Canadian  Cure,  -^jjcclesi- 
astical  Rule.  —  Saint- Vallier  and  Denonville.  —  Clerical  Rigor. 
— Tesuitand  Sulpitian.  —  Courcelle  and  Chatelain.  —  The  Re- 
collets. —  Heresy  and  Witchcraft.  —  Cimadian  Nuns.  —  Jeanne 
Le  Ber.  —  Education.  —  The  Seminary.  —  Saint  Joachim.  — 
Miracles  of  Saint  Anne.  —  Canadian  Schools 831 


*a 


CHAPTER  XX. 

1640-1763. 

MORALS   AND   MANNERS. 

[  Social  Influence  of  the  Troops.  —  A  Petty  Tyrant.  —  Brawls.  — 
Violence  and  Outlawry.  —  State  of  the  Population.  —  Views  of 
Denonville.  —  Brandy.  —  Beggary.  —  The  Past  and  the  Present. 

—  Inns,  -^tateof^^jjgjjgfi,  —  Fires.  —  The  Country  Parishes. 

—  Slavery.  —  Views  of  La   Hontan.  —  Of   Hocquart.  —  Of 
Bougainville.  —  Of  Kalm.  —  Of  Charlevoix 


368 


XVI 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

1663-1763. 

canadian  absolutism. 

Page 
Formation  of  Canadian  Character.  —  Tlie  Rival  Colonies. — Eng- 
land and  France.  —  New  England.  —  Characteristics  of  Race.  — 

Military  Qualities.  —  The  Church.  —  The  English  Conquest .     .  394 

APPENDIX. 

A.  The  Hermitage  of  Caen 403 

B.  Laval  and  Argenson 407 

C.  Peronne  Dumesnil 409 

D.  Laval  and  Mesy 413 

E.  Marriage  and  Population 416 

F.  Chateau  St.  Louis 419 

G.  Trade  and  Industry 422 

H.     Letter  of  Father  Carheil 427 

I.     The  Governu.ent  and  the  Clergy 432 

J.     Canadian  Cures.    Education.    Discipline 438 

INDEX 441 


iiiii 


Paob 
—  Eng- 
Race.  — 
nest .  .  391 


403 
407 
409 
413 
416 
419 
422 
427 
432 
438 


441 


(I  I 


CANADA 

\yii  Ai>jA<'K>'T  rorxTKiKS 

OF  THF. 

I?'"  CENTURY, 


'4 
I 


■-m^wmsmrri*  -vt;^.. 


THE 


The    Iroquoi 
Jksuit    Bo 

D.VHLOX. — 
ClUTICAL   V 

Chaumonoi 

DIT8. —  Thi 


m 


Ijf  the  s 
fasting  and 
cations.  T 
unceasing  ] 
like  some 
passed  wit; 
succor  Iiopi 

At  Moni 
ments.,  a  sc 
lifty  Frend 
day  to  exii 
two  liimdrG 
men.  The 
one ;  but,  s 


1. 


THE    PEEIOD    OF    TRAjS'SITIO:^'. 


CHAPlI::il    I. 

1G53-1G58. 

THE  JESUITS  AT  ONONDAGA. 

The  Iroquois  War.  —  Father  Poncet.  —  His  Adventures.  — « 
Jksuit  Boldness.  —  Le  Moyne's  Mission.  —  Chaumonot  and 
Dablon. —  Iroquois  Ferocity.  —  The  Mohawk  Kidnappers. — 
Critical  Position.  —  The  Colony  of  O.nondaga.  —  Speech  of 
Chaumonot.  —  Osiens  of  Destruction.  —  Device  of  the  Jes- 
uits.—  The  Medicine  Feast.  —  The  Escape. 


In  the  summer  of  1653,  all  Canada  turned  to 
fasting  and  penance,  processions,  vows,  and  suppli- 
cations. The  saints  and  the  Virgin  were  beset  with 
unceasing  prayer.  The  wretched  little  colony  was 
like  some  puny  garrison,  starving  and  sick,  com- 
passed with  inveterate  foes,  supplies  cut  off,  and 
succor  hopeless. 

At  Montreal,  the  advance  guard  of  the  settle- 
ments., a  sort  of  Castle  Dangerous,  held  by  about 
Hfty  Frenchmen,  and  said  by  a  pious  writer  of  the 
(lay  to  exist  only  Dy  a  continuous  miracle,  some 
two  hundred  Iroquois  fell  upon  twenty-six  French- 
luon.  The  Christians  were  outmatched,  eight  to 
one ;  but,  says  the  chronicle,  the  Queen  of  Heaven 


THE   JKiiLlTS  AT   ONONDAGA. 


[10&3. 


M 


was  on  their  side,  aud  the  Son  of  Mary  refuses 
nothing  lo  his  lioly  mother.^  Through  her  inter- 
cession, the  Iroquois  shot  so  wihlly  that  at  their 
first  fh'e  every  bullet  '•'  'd  its  mark,  and  they 
met  with  a  bloody  dexecit.  The  ptdisaded  settle- 
ment of  Three  Itivers,  though  in  a  position  less 
exposed  than  that  of  Montreal,  was  in  no  less 
jeopardy.  A  noted  war-chief  of  the  Mohawk  Iro- 
(juois  had  been  captured  here  the  year  before,  and 
put  to  death ;  and  his  tribe  swarmed  out,  like  a 
nest  of  angry  hornets,  to  revenge  him.  Not  con- 
tent Avith  defeating  and  killing  the  commandant, 
Du  Plessis  Bochart,  they  encamped  during  winter 
in  the  neighboring  forest,  watching  for  an  oppor- 
tunity to  surprise  the  place.  Hunger  drove  them 
off,  but  they  returned  in  spring,  infesting  every  I 
field  and  pathway ;  till,  at  length,  some  six  hundred 
of  their  warriors  landed  in  secret  and  lay  hidden  in 
the  depths  of  the  woods,  silently  biding  their  time. 
Having  failed,  however,  in  an  artifice  designed  to  I 
lure  the  French  out  of  their  defences,  they  showed 
themselves  on  all  sides,  plundering,  burning,  and 
destroying,  up  to  the  palisades  of  the  fort.^ 

Of  the  three  settlements  which,  with  their  feeble 
dependencies,  then  comprised  the  whole  of  Canada, 
Quebec  was  least  exposed  to  Indian  attacks,  being 
partially  covered  by  Montreal  and  Three  Rivers. 
Nevertheless,  there  was  no  safety  tliis  year,  even 


1  Le  Mercler,  Relation,  1653,  3. 

2  So  bent  were  they  on  taking  the  place,  that  they  brought  tlieir 
families,  in  order  to  make  a  permanent  settlement.  —  Marie  de  I'lncarna- 
tion,  Ldtre  du  6  Sept.,  1053. 


1053] 


PACIFIC  OVKUTURES. 


8 


under  the  cannon  of  Fort  St.  Louis.  At  Cap 
liouge,  a  few  miles  above,  the  Jesuit  Poncet  saw 
;i  |»()or  woman  who  had  a  patch  of  corn  beside  lier 
cabin,  but  could  llnd  no])ody  to  harvest  it.  The 
lather  went  to  seek  aid,  met  one  Mathurin 
Franchetot,  whom  he  persuaded  to  undertake  the 
cliaritaljle  task,  and  was  returning  with  him,  when 
they  both  fell  into  an  ambuscade  of  Irocpiois,  who 
seized  them  and  dragged  them  off.  Thirty-two 
men  embarked  in  canoes  at  Quebec  to  follow  the 
retreating  savages  and  rescue  the  prisoners.  Push- 
ing rapidly  up  the  St.  Lawrence,  they  approached 
Three  Rivers,  found  it  beset  by  the  Mohawks, 
and  bravely  threw  themselves  into  it,  to  the  great 
joy  of  its  defenders  and  discoiu'agement  of  the 
assailants. 

Meanwhile,  the  intercession  of  the  Virgin  wrouglit 
new  marvels  at  Montreal,  and  a  bright  ray  of  hope 
beamed  forth  from  the  darkness  and  the  storm  to 
cheer  the  hearts  of  her  votaries.  It  was  on  the 
2Gtli  of  June  that  sixty  of  the  Onondaga  L'oquois 
appeared  in  sight  of  the  fort,  shouting  from  a  dis- 
tance that  they  came  on  an  errand  of  peace,  and 
asking  safe-conduct  for  some  of  their  number. 
Ginis,  scalping-knives,  tomahawks,  were  all  laid 
aside ;  and,  with  a  confidence  truly  astonishing,  a 
deputation  of  chiefs,  naked  and  defenceless,  came 
hito  the  midst  of  those  whom  thoy  had  betrayed 
so  often.  The  French  had  a  mind  to  seize  them, 
and  pay  them  in  kind  for  past  treachery  ;  but  they 
refrained,  seeing  in  this  wondrous  change  of  heart 
the  manifest  hand  of  Heaven.    Nevertheless,  it  can 


THE  JESUITS  AT   ONONDAGA. 


[1053. 


! : 


be  expl.'iinod  without  a  iiiinicle.  The  Iroquois,  or, 
at  least,  tlie  western  nations  of  their  league,  had 
just  become  involved  in  war  with  their  neighbors 
the  Eries,'  and  "  one  war  at  a  thne  "  was  the  sage 
maxim  of  their  policy. 

All  was  smiles  and  blandishment  in  the  fort  at 
Montreal ;  presents  were  exchanged,  and  the  depu- 
ties departed,  bearing  home  golden  reports  of  the 
French.  An  Oneida  deputation  soon  followed  ;  but 
the  enraged  Mohawks  still  infested  Montreal  an<l 
beleaguered  Three  Eivers,  till  one  of  their  prin- 
cipal chiefs  and  four  of  their  best  warriors  were 
captured  by  a  party  of  Christian  Hurons.  Then, 
seeing  themselves  abandoned  by  the  other  nations 
of  the  league  and  left  to  w\age  the  war  alone,  they, 
too,  made  overtures  of  peace. 

A  gra^d  council  was  held  at  Quebec.  Speeches 
were  made,  and  wampum-belts  exchanged.  The 
Iroquois  left  some  of  their  chief  men  as  pledges  of 
sincerity,  and  two  young  soldiers  offered  them- 
selves as  reciprocal  pledges  on  the  part  of  the 
French.  The  w^ar  was  over ;  at  least  Canada  had 
found  a  moment  to  take  breath  for  the  next 
struggle.  The  fur  trade  w^as  restored  again,  with 
promise  of  plenty;  for  the  beaver,  profiting  by  tlie 
quarrels  of  their  human  foes,  had  of  late  greatly 
midtiplied.  It  was  a  change  from  death  to  life; 
for  Canada  lived  on  the  beaver,  and,  robbed  of  this, 


1  See  Jesuits  in  North  America,  438.  The  Iroquois,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, consisted  of  five  "nations,"  or  tribes,  —  the  Mohawks,  Oneidas, 
Onondagas,  Cayu^as,  and  Senecas.  I'or  an  account  of  them,  see  tiie 
work  just  cited,  Introduction. 


1C53.] 


CKLKSTIAL   IN'TKRVKNTION. 


5 


licr  onl}'  sustenance,  luid  l)een  dying  slowly  since 
the  strife  began.* 

'*  Yesterday,"  writes  Father  Le  Mercier,  "  all  Nvas 
dejection  and  gloom  ;  to-day,  all  is  smiles  and 
gnyety.  On  Wednesday,  massacre,  burning,  and 
pillage ;  on  Thursday,  gifts  and  visits,  as  among 
friends.  If  the  Iroquois  have  their  hidden  designs, 
so,  too,  has  God. 

"  On  the  day  of  the  Visitation  of  the  Holy 
Virgin,  the  chief,  Aontarisati,^  so  regretted  by  the 
Iro(tuois,  was  taken  prisoner  by  our  Indians,  in- 
structed by  our  fathers,  and  ba[)tized ;  and,  on  the 
same  day,  being  put  to  death,  he  ascended  to 
heaven.  I  doubt  not  that  he  thanked  the  Virgin 
for  his  misfortune  and  the  blessing  that  followed, 
and  that  he  prayed  to  God  for  his  countrymen. 

"  The  people  of  Montreal  made  a  solenni  vow  to 
celebrate  publicly  the  fete  of  this  mother  of  all 
blessings ;  whereupon  the  Iroquois  came  to  ask  for 
peace. 

''  It  was  on  the  day  of  the  Assumption  of  this 
Queen. of  angels  and  of  men  that  the  Ilurons  took 
at  Montreal  that  other  famous  Iroquois  chief,  whose 
capture  caused  the  Mohawks  to  seek  our  alliance. 

"  On  the  day  when  the  Church  honors  the  Nativity 
of  the  Holy  Virgin,  the  Iroquois  granted  Father 


I 
I 

j 

« 


'  According  to  Le  Mercier,  beaver  to  the  value  of  from  200,0fi0  to 
800,000  livres  was  yearly  brought  down  to  the  colony  before  the  (U'stnic- 
tion  of  the  Uurons  (1649-50).  Three  years  later,  not  one  beaver  skin 
wiis  brought  to  Montreal  during  a  twelveniontii,  and  Three  Hivers  and 
Quohec  had  barely  enough  to  pay  for  keeping  the  fortifications  in 
rejiair. 

'^  The  chief  whose  death  had  so  enraged  the  Mohawks. 


tai:.  iii.<'.iu.wiiiawL'.THfc<ji » •■'KTig^:''  * 


THE  JESUITS  AT   ONONDAGA. 


[1653. 


'Ill 


Por!cet  lii.s  life ;  and  he,  or  rather  the  Holy  Virgin 
and  the  holy  angels,  labored  so  well  in  the  work  of 
peace,  that  on  St.  Michael's  Day  it  w\as  resolved  in 
a  council  of  the  elders  that  the  father  should  be 
conducted  to  Quebec,  and  a  lasting  treaty  made 
with  the  French."^ 

Happy  as  was  this  consummation.  Father  Poncet's 
path  to  it  had  been  a  thorny  one.  He  has  left  us 
his  own  rueful  story,  written  in  obedience  to  the 
command  of  his  superior.  He  and  his  companion 
in  misery  had  been  hurried  through  the  forests, 
from  Cap  Rouge  on  the  St.  Law^rence  to  the  Indian 
towns  on  the  Mohawk.  He  tells  us  how  he  slept 
among  dank  weeds,  dropping  with  the  cold  doAv; 
how  frightful  colics  assailed  him  as  he  waded  w^aist- 
deep  through  a  mountain  stream ;  how  one  of  his 
feet  w^s  blistered  and  one  of  his  legs  benumbed ; 
how  an  Indian  snatched  away  his  reliquary  and  lo.st 
the  precious  contents.  "  I  had,"  he  says,  "  a  picture 
of  Saint  Ignatius  with  our  Lord  bearing  the  cross, 
and  another  of  Our  Lady  of  Pity  surrounded  by  the 
five  wounds  of  her  Son.  They  were  my  joy  and 
my  consolation  ;  but  I  hid  them  in  a  bush,  lest  the 
Indians  should  laugh  at  them."  He  kept,  however, 
a  little  image  of  the  crown  of  thorns,  in  which  he 
found  great  comfort,  as  well  as  in  communion  with 
his  patron  saints,  Saint  Raphael,  Saint  Martha,  and 
Saint  Joseph.  On  one  occasion  he  asked  these  celes- 
tial friends  for  something  to  soothe  his  tiiirst,  and 
for  a  bowl  of  broth  to  revive  his  strength.  Scarcely 
had  he  framed  the  petition  when  an  Indian  gave 

»  Relation,  1653,  18. 


1653.] 


THE  WOES   OF  FATHER  PONCET. 


liim  some  wild  plums;  and  in  the  evening,  as  he  lay 
fainting  on  tlie  ground,  another  brought  him  the 
coveted  broth.  Weary  and  forlorn,  he  reached  at 
last  the  lower  Mohawk  town,  whei'e,  after  being 
stripped,  and,  Avith  his  companion,  forced  to  run 
the  gauntlet,  he  was  placed  on  a  scaffold  of  bark, 
surrounded  by  a  crowd  of  grinning  and  mocking 
savages.  As  it  began  to  rain,  they  took  him  into 
one  of  their  lodges,  and  amused  themselves  by 
making  him  dance,  sing,  and  perform  various  fan- 
tastic tricks  for  their  amusement.  He  seems  to 
have  done  his  best  to  please  them ;  "  but,"  adds 
the  chronicler,  "  I  will  say  in  passing,  that  as  he 
did  not  succeed  to  their  liking  in  these  buffooneries 
(ffbif/erles),  they  would  have  put  him  to  death,  if  a 
young  Huron  prisoner  had  not  offered  himself  to 
sing,  dance,  and  make  wry  faces  in  place  of  the 
father,  who  had  never  learned  the  trade." 

Having  sufficiently  amused  themselves,  they  left 
him  for  a  time  in  peace ;  when  an  old  one-eyed 
Indian  approached,  took  his  hands,  examined  them, 
selected  the  left  forefinger,  and  calling  a  child  four 
or  five  years  old,  gave  him  a  knife,  and  told  him 
to  cut  it  off,  Avliich  the  imp  proceeded  to  do,  his 
victim  meanwhile  singing  the  VexlUa  licgls.  After 
this  preliminary,  they  would  have  burned  him,  like 
Franchetot,  his  unfortunate  companion,  had  not  a 
squiiNV  hiippily  adopted  him  in  place,  as  he  says,  of 
a  deceased  brother.  He  was  installed  at  once  in 
the  lodge  of  his  new  relatives,  Avhere,  bereft  of 
every  rag  of  Christ ijui  clothing,  and  attired  in  leg- 
gins,  moccasins,  and  a  greasy  shirt,  the  astonished 


s 


t 


I 


y( 


'IPI 


il!!! 


Ill 


I 


8 


THE  JESUITS  AT  ONONDAGA. 


[1653.  ■   10G3.] 


father  saw  himself  transformed  into  an  Iroquois. 
But  his  deliverance  was  at  hand.  A  special  agree- 
ment providing  for  it  had  formed  a  part  of  the  treaty 
concluded  at  Quebec ;  and  he  now  learned  that  he 
was  to  be  restored  to  his  countrymen.  After  a 
march  of  almost  intolerable  hardship,  he  saw  him- 
self once  more  among  Christians;  Heaven,  as  he 
modestly  thinks,  having  found  him  unworthy  of 
martyrdom. 

"  At  last,"  he  writes,  "  we  reached  Montreal  on 
the  21st  of  October,  the  nine  weeks  of  my  captivity 
being  accomplished,  in  honor  of  Saint  JVIichael  and  | 
all  the  holy  angels.  On  the  6th  of  November  the 
Iroquois  who  conducted  me  made  their  presents  to 
confirm  the  peace  ;  and  thus,  on  a  Sunday  evening, 
eighty-and-oue  daj's  after  my  capture,  —  that  is  to 
say,  nine  times  nine  days,  —  this  great  business  of 
the  peace  was  happily  concluded,  the  holy  angels 
showing  by  this  number  nine,  which  is  specially 
dedic<ited  to  them,  the  part  they  bore  in  this  holy 
work."  ^  This  incessant  supernaturalism  is  the  key 
to  the  early  history  of  New  France. 

Peace    was   made;    but   would   peace    endure? 
There  was  little  chance  of  it,  and  this  for  several 
reasous.     First,  the  native  fickleness  of  the  Iro- 
quois, who,  astute  and  politic  to  a  surprising  degree, 
were   in   certain   respects,  like   all  savages,   mere  | 
growu-up  children.    Next,  their  total  want  of  con-  I 
trol  over  their  fierce  and  capricious  young  Avarriors.  i 
any  one  of  whom  could  break  the  peace  with  ini- 

^  Poncet  in  lichttin)},  1653,  17.    On  Poncet's  captivity,  see  also  Morale  J 
Praliqne  dvs  J^mites,  vol.  xxxiv.  (4to)  cliap.  xii. 


ears  an  m^ 


[1653.  ■  io:3.] 


IROQUOIS   DESIGNS. 


9 


ee  also  Morale 


pimity  whenever  he  saw  fit;  ancl^  above  all,  the 
strong  probability  that  the  Iroquois  had  made 
peace  in  order,  under  cover  of  it,  to  butcher  or 
kidnap  the  unhappy  remnant  of  the  Ilurons  who 
Avore  living,  under  French  protection,  on  the  island 
ui'  Orleans,  innnediately  below  Quebec.  I  have 
ah^eady  told  the  story  of  the  destruction  of  this 
])eople  and  of  the  Jesuit  missions  established  among 
tliem.^  The  conquerors  were  eager  to  complete 
their  bloody  triumph  by  seizing  upon  the  refugees 
of  Orleans,  killing  the  elders,  and  strengthening 
their  own  tribes  by  the  adoption  of  the  women, 
clrldren,  and  youths.  The  Mohawks  and  the 
Or  3ndagas  were  competitors  for  the  prize.  Each 
coveted  the  Huron  colony,  and  each  was  jealous 
lest  hi    iival  should  pounce  upon  it  first. 

When  the  Mohawks  brought  home  Poncet,  they 
covertly  gave  wampum-belts  to  the  Huron  chiefs, 
and  invited  them  to  remove  to  their  villages.  It 
was  the  wolf's  invitation  to  the  lamb.  The  Ilurons, 
aghast  with  terror,  went  secretly  to  the  Jesuits, 
and  told  them  that  demons  had  whispered  in  their 
ears  an  invitation  to  destruction.  So  helpless  were 
both  the  Ilurons  and  their  French  supporters,  that 
tlicy  saw  no  recourse  but  dissimulation.  The 
Ilurons  promised  to  go,  and  only  sought  excuses 
to  gain  time. 

The  Onondagas  had  a  deeper  plan.  Their  towns 
were  already  full  of  Huron  captives,  former  con- 
verts of  the  Jesuits,  cherishing  their  luemory  and 
constantly  repeating    their  praises.      Hence  their 

1  Jesuits  ill  NurUi  America. 


I.;    ;il! 


10 


TIIK  JESUITS   AT  ONONDAGA. 


[1654. 


'i 


III 


i. 


m  \ 


tyrants  conceived  the  idea  that  by  planting  at 
Onondaga  a  colony  of  Frenchmen  under  the  direc- 
tion of  these  beloved  fathers,  the  Hurons  of  Orleans, 
disarmed  of  suspicion,  might  readily  be  led  to  join 
them.  Other  motives,  as  we  shall  see,  tended  to 
the  same  end,  and  the  Onondaga  deputies  begged. 
or  vatlier  demanded,  that  a  colony  of  Frenchmen 
should  be  sent  among  them. 

Here  was  a  dilemma.  Was  not  this,  like  the 
Mohawk  invitation  to  the  IIig:*ons,  an  invitation  to 
butchery  ?  On  the  other  hand,  to  refuse  would  i 
probably  kindle  the  Avar  afresh.  The  Jesuits  had 
long  nursed  a  project  bold  to  temerity.  Their 
great  Huron  mission  was  ruined ;  but  might  not 
another  be  built  up  among  the  authors  of  this  ruin, 
and  the  Iroquois  themselves,  tamed  by  the  power 
of  the  Faith,  b6  annexed  to  the  kingdoms  of  Heaven 
and  of  Fi-^nce?  Thus  would  peace  be  restored  to 
Canada,  a  barrier  of  fire  opposed  to  the  Dutch  and 
English  heretics,  and  the  power  of  the  Jesuits  I 
vastly  increased.  Yet  the  time  was  hardly  ripe  I 
for  such  an  attempt.  Before  thrusting  a  head  into 
the  tiger's  jaws,  it  would  l)e  well  to  try  the  effect 
of  thrusting  in  a  hand.  They  resolved  to  compro- 
mise with  the  danger,  and  before  risking  a  colony 
at  Onondaga  to  send  thither  an  envoy  who  could 
soothe  the  Indians,  confirm  them  in  pacific  designs, 
and  pave  the  way  for  more  decisive  steps.  The 
choice  fell  on  Father  Simon  Le  Moyne. 

The  errand  was  mainly  a  political  one ;  and  this 
sagacious  and  able  priest,  versed  in  Indian  lan- 
guages  and   customs,  was   well   suited   to  do   it. 


1054.] 


FATHER  LE   MOYNE. 


11 


"  On  the  second  day  of  the  montli  of  July?  the  fes- 
tival of  the  A^isitation  of  the  Most  Holy  Virgin, 
ever  favorable  to  our  enterprises,  Father  Simon 
Lo  Moyne  set  out  from  Quebec  for  the  country 
of  the  Onondaga  Iroquois."  In  these  words  does 
Father  Le  Mercier  chronicle  the  departure  of  his 
lirother  Jesuit.  Scarcely  was  he  gone  when  a  band 
of  Mohawks,  under  a  redoubtable  half-breed  known 
as  the  Flemish  Bastard,  arrived  at  Quebec ;  and, 
when  they  heard  that  the  envoy  was  to  go  to  the 
Ouondagas  without  visiting  their  tribe,  they  took 
the  imagined  slight  in  high  dudgeon,  displaying 
8iich  jealousy  and  ire  that  a  letter  was  sent  after 
Le  Moyne,  directing  him  to  proceed  to  the  Mohawk 
towns  before  his  return.  But  he  was  already  be- 
yond reach,  and  the  angry  Mohawks  were  left  to 
digest  their  wrath. 

At  Montreal,  Le  Moyne  took  a  canoe,  a  young 
Frenchman,  and  two  or  three  Indians,  and  began 
the  tumultuous  journey  of  the  Upper  St.  Lawrence, 
Nature,  or  habit,  had  taught  him  to  love  the  wil- 
derness life.  He  and  his  companions  had  strug- 
gled all  day  against  the  surges  of  La  Chine,  and 
were  bivouacked  at  evening  by  the  Lake  of  St. 
Louis,  when  a  cloud  of  mosquitoes  fell  iqion  them, 
followed  by  a  shower  of  warm  rain.  The  father, 
stretched  under  a  tree,  seems  clearly  to  have  en- 
joyed himself.  ''  It  is  a  pleasure,"  he  writes,  ''  the 
sweetest  and  most  innocent  imaginable,  to  have 
no  other  shelter  than  trees  planted  by  Nature  since 
the  creation  of  the  world."  Sometimes,  during 
their  journey,  this  primitive   tent  proved  insuf- 


II 


l;' 


12 


THE  JESUITS  AT  ONONDAGA. 


[1654.  ■  1C54.] 


I  'I 


1  


m 
iili  $ 


m\  [M 


m  '■ 


i      i 


ficient,  and  they  would  build  a  bark  hut  or  find  a 
partial  shelter  under  their  inverted  canoe.  Now 
they  glided  smoothly  over  the  sunny  bosom  of  the 
calm  and  smilino;  river,  and  now  strained  every 
nerve  to  fight  their  slow  way  against  the  rapids, 
dragging  their  canoe  upward  in  the  shallow  water 
by  the  shore,  as  one  leads  an  unwilling  horse  by 
the  bridle,  or  shouldering  it  and  bearing  it  through 
the  forest  to  the  smoother  current  above.  Game 
abounded  ;  and  they  saw  great  herds  of  elk  quietly 
defiling  between  the  water  and  the  woods,  with 
little  heed  of  men,  who  in  that  perilous  region 
found  employment  enough  in  himting  one  another. 

At  the  entrance  of  Lake  Ontario  they  met  a  I 
party  of  Iroquois  fishermen,  who  proved  friendly,  i 
and  guided  them  on  their  way.  Ascending  the  | 
Onondaga,  they  neared  then'  destination  ;  and  now 
all  misgivings  as  to  their  reception  at  the  Iroquois  | 
capital  were  dispelled.  The  inhabitants  came  to  I 
meet  them,  bringing  roasting  ears  of  the  young  1 
maize  and  bread  made  of  its  pulp,  than  which  they  i 
knew  no  luxury  more  exquisite.  Their  faces  I 
beamed  welcome.  Le  Moyne  was  astonished.  "I  i 
never,"  he  says,  "  saw  the  like  among  Indians  be- 
fore." They  were  flattered  by  his  visit,  and,  for  | 
the  moment,  were  glad  to  see  him.  They  hoped 
for  <»:reat  advanta":es  from  the  residence  of  French- 1 
men  among  them ;  and,  having  the  Erie  war  on 
their  hands,  they  wished  for  peace  wdth  Canada. 
"  One  would  call  me  brother,"  writes  Le  Moyne ;  | 
"  another,  uncle ;  another,  cousin.  I  never  hud 
so  many  relations." 


[1654.  ■  1G54.] 


LE  MOYNE  AT  ONONDAGA. 


13 


He  was  overjoyed  to  find  that  many  of  the 
Huron  converts,  who  had  long  been  captive  j  at 
Onondaga,  liad  not  forgotten  the  teachings  of  their 
Jesuit  instructors.  Such  influence  as  they  had 
with  their  conquerors  was  sure  to  be  exerted  in 
behalf  of  the  French.  Deputies  of  the  Senecas, 
Cayugas,  and  Oneidas  at  length  arrived,  and,  on 
the  10th  of  August,  the  criers  passed  through  the 
town,  summoning  all  to  hear  the  words  of  Onontio. 
The  naked  dignitaries,  sitting,  squatting,  or  lying 
at  full  length,  thronged  the  smoky  hall  of  council. 
The  father  knelt  and  prayed  in  a  loud  voice,  in- 
voking the  aid  of  Heaven,  cursing  the  demons  who 
are  spirits  of  discord,  and  calling  on  the  tutelar 
angels  of  the  country  to  open  the  ears  of  his  lis- 
teners. Then  he  opened  his  packet  of  presents 
and  began  his  speech.  ''  I  was  full  two  hours," 
he  says,  "  in  making  it,  speaking  in  the  tone  of 
a  chief,  and  walking  to  and  fro,  after  their  fashion, 
I  like  an  actor  on  a  theatre."  Not  only  did  he  im- 
litate  the  prolonged  accents  of  the  Imquois  orators, 
but  he  adopted  and  improved  their  figures  of 
I  speech,  and  addressed  them  in  turn  by  their  re- 
spi'ctive  tribes,  bands,  and  families,  calling  their 
nien  of  note  by  name,  as  if  he  had  been  born  among 
theui.  They  were  delighted;  and  their  ejacula- 
tions of  approval  —  hoh-hoh-hoh  —  came  thick  and 
fast  at  every  pause  of  his  harangue.  Especially 
were  they  pleased  with  the  eighth,  ninth,  tenth, 
[and  eleventh  presents,  whereby  the  reverend 
^eaker  gave  to  the  four  upper  nations  of  the 
lleague  four  hatchets  to  strike  their  new  enemies, 


I 


14 


THE  JESUITS  AT   ONONDAGA. 


[1654. 


:i"||      ' 


!  :■.!      I 


1 


the  Eries ;  while  by  another  present  he  metaphor- 
ically daubed  their  faces  with  the  war-paint.  How- 
ever it  may  have  suited  the  chtiracter  of  a  Christian 
priest  to  hound  on  these  savage  hordes  to  a  war 
of  extermination  which  they  bad  themselves  pro- 
voked, it  is  certain  that,  as  a  politician,  Le  Moync 
did  Avisely ;  since  in  the  war  with  the  Eries  lay  the 
best  hope  of  peace  for  the  French. 

The  reply  of  the  Indian  orator  was  friendly  to 
overflowing.  He  prayed  his  Fi'ench  brethren  to 
choose  a  spot  on  the  lake  of  Onondaga,  where  they 
might  dwell  in  the  country  of  the  Iroquois,  as  they 
dwelt  already  in  their  hearts.  Le  Moyne  promised, 
and  made  two  presents  to  confirm  the  pledge. 
Then,  his  mission  fulfilled,  he  set  out  on  his  return, 
attended  by  a  troop  of  Indians.  As  he  approached 
the  lake,  his  escort  showed  him  a  large  spring  of 
water,  possessed,  as  they  told  him,  by  a  bad  spirit. 
Le  Moyne  tasted  it,  then  boiled  a  little  of  it,  and  | 
produced  a  quantity  of  excellent  salt,  lie  had 
discovered,  the  famous  salt-springs  of  Onondaga.  | 
Fishing  and  hunting,  the  party  pursued  their  way 
till,  at  noon  of  the  7th  of  September,  Le  Moyne 
reached  Montreal.^ 

"When  he  reached  Quebec,  his  tidings  cheered  for 
a  w^hile  the  anxious  hearts  of  its  tenants ;  but  an 
unwonted  incident  soon  told  them  how  hollow  was 
the  ground  beneath  their  feet.  Le  Moyne,  accom- 
panied by  two  Onondagas  and  several  Ilurons  and  | 
Algonqidns,  was  returning  to  Montreal,  when  he 
and  his  companions  were  set  upon  by  a  war-party 

i  Journal  du  Pere  Le  Moine,  lielatioii,  1654,  chaps,  vi.  vii. 


t 


^( 


WA-ob.\ 


MOHAWK  OUTRAGKS. 


15 


of  Mohawks.  The  IT*iirons  and  Algoiiquhis  were 
killed.  One  of  the  Onondagas  sluired  their  fate, 
and  the  other,  with  Le  Moyne  himself,  was  seized 
and  bound  fast.  The  captive  Ononchiga,  however, 
-was  so  loud  in  his  threats  and  denunciations,  that 
the  Mohawks  released  both  him  and  the  Jesuit.' 
Here  was  a  foreshadowing  of  civil  Avar,  Molunvk 
against  Onondaga,  Iroquois  against  Iroquois.  The 
quarrel  was  patched  up,  but  fresh  provocations 
were  imminent. 

The  Mohawks  took  no  part  in  the  Eric  war,  and 
hence  their  hands  were  free  to  fight  the  French 
laud  the  tribes  allied  with  them.     Keckless  of  their 
promises,  they  began  a  series  of  butcheries,  fell 
upon  the  French  at  Isle  aux  Oies,  killed  a  lay 
I  brother  of  the  Jesuits  at  Sillery,  and  attacked  Mont- 
real.    Here,   being  roughly  handled,    they  came 
I  for  a  time  to  their  senses,  and  offered  terms,  prom- 
iLsing  to  spare  the  Fj'ench,  but  declaring  that  they 
would  still  was>e  war  against  the  Hurons  and  Al- 
gonquins.      These  were  allies  whom   the  French 
were  pledged  to  protect;  but  so  helpless  was  the 
colon}',  that  the  insolent  and  humiliating  proffer 
was  accepted,  and  another  peace  ensued,  as  hollow 
as  the  last.    The  indefatigable  Le  Moyne  was  sent 
to  the  Mohawk  towns  to  confirm  it,  "  so  far,"  says 
the  chronicle,  ''  as  it  is  possible  to  confirm  a  peace 
made  by  infidels  backed  by  heretics."^     The  Mo- 
pawks  received  him  with  great  rejoicing ;  yet  his 

^  C'ouipiire  Relation,  1G54,  33,  and  Lettre  de  Marie  de  I' I  near  nation,  18 
\Octohre,  lt)o4. 

-  Cople  di'  Deux  Lctfres  envni/e'is  de  la  Nouvelle  France  an  Pere  Procureur 
Ides  Missions  de  la  Conijtaynie  de  J^mis, 


■J 


i 


16 


THE  JESUITS  AT  ONONDAGA. 


[1655. 


HI    liH 


III 


life  was  not  safe  for  a  moment.  A  warrior,  feign- 
ing madness,  raved  through  the  town  with  uplifted 
hatchet,  howling  for  his  blood ;  but  the  saints 
watched  over  him  and  balked  the  machinations  of 
hell.  He  came  off  alive  and  returned  to  Montreal, 
spent  with  famine  and  fatigue. 

Meanwhile  a  deputation  of  eighteen  Onondaga 
chiefs  arrived  at  Quebec.  There  was  a  grand 
council.  The  Onondagas  demanded  a  colony  of 
Frenchmen  to  dwell  among  them.  Lauson,  the 
governor,  dared  neither  to  consent  nor  to  refuse. 
A  middle  course  was  chosen,  and  two  Jesuits,  Chau- 
monot  and  Dablon,  were  sent,  like  Le  Moyne,  partly 
to  gain  time,  partly  to  reconnoitre,  and  partly  to 
confirm  the  Onondagas  in  such  good  intentions  as 
they  might  entertain.  Chaumonot  was  a  veteran 
of  the  Huron  mission,  who,  miraculously  as  he  him- 
self supposed,  had  acquired  a  great  fluency  in  the 
Huron  tongue,  which  is  closely  allied  to  that  of  the 
Iroquois.  Dablon,  a  new-comer,  spoke,  as  yet,  no 
Indian. 

Their  voyage  up  the  St.  Lawrence  was  enlivened 
by  an  extraordinary  bear-hunt,  and  by  the  antics 
of  one  of  their  Indian  attendants,  who,  having 
dreamed  that  he  had  swallowed  a  frog,  roused  the 
whole  camp  by  the  gymnastics  with  which  he  tried 
to  rid  himself  of  the  intruder.  On  approaching 
Onondaga,  they  were  met  by  a  chief  Avho  sang  a 
song  of  welcome,  a  part  of  which  he  seasoned  with 
touches  of  humor,  apostrophizing  the  fish  in  the 
river  Onondaga,  naming  each  sort,  great  or  small, 
and  callino;  on  them  in  turn  to  come  into  the  nets 


10.3.J. 


CIIAUMONOT'S  ELOQUENCE. 


17 


of  the  Frenchmen  and  sacrifice  life  cheert'ully  for 
their  behoof.  Hereupon  there  was  much  laughter 
among  the  Indian  auditors.  An  unwonted  clean h- 
ness  reigned  in  the  town ;  the  streets  had  been 
cleared  of  refuse,  and  the  arched  roofs  of  the  long 
houses  of  bark  were  covered  with  red-skinned  chil- 
dren staring  at  the  entry  of  the  "  black  robes." 
Ctovvds  followed  behind,  and  all  was  jubilation. 
The  dignitaries  of  the  tribe  met  them  on  the  way, 
and  greeted  them  with  a  speech  of  welcome.  A 
[feast  of  bear's  meat  awaited  them;  but,  unhap- 
pily, it  was  Friday,  and  the  fathers  were  forced 
to  abstain. 

"  On  Monday,  the  15th  of  November,  at  nine  in 
I  the  morning,  after  having  secretly  sent  to  Paradise 
a  (lying  infant  by  the  waters  of  baptism,  all  the 
elders  and  the  people  having  assembled,  we  opened 
the  council  by  public  prayer."     Thus  writes  Father 
iDablon.     His  colleague,  Chaumonot,  a  Frenchman 
|l)ie(l  in  Italy,  now  rose,  with  a  long  belt  oi"  wam- 
Ipuiii  in  his  hand,  and  proceeded  to  make  so  effec- 
|ti\  e  a  dispjlay  of  his  rhetorical  gifts  that  the  Indians 
were  lost  in  admiration,  and  their  orators  put  to 
the  blush  by  his  improvements  on  their  own  meta- 
)hors.     ''  If  he  had  spoken  all  'lay,"  said  the  de- 
lighted auditors,  "  we  should  not  have  had  enough 
)t'  it."     "The  Dutch,"  added  others,  "have  neither 
)rains  nor  tongues ;  they  never  tell  us  about  Para- 
flise  and  Hell ;  on  the  contrary,  they  lead  us  into 
)ad  ways." 

On  the  next  day  the  chiefs  reiuxned  their  an- 
swer.    The  council  opened  with  a  goi  g  or  chant, 

2 


18 


THE  JKSUITS  AT  ONONDAGA. 


wliioh  was  clividofl  into  six  parts,  and  Avliich,  ac- 
cordin*^  to  Dablon,  was  exceedingly  well  sung. 
The  ))iirden  of  the  fifth  part  was  as  follows:  — 

"Farewell  war;  farewell  tomahawk;  we  have 
been  fools  till  now;  henceforth  we  will  be  brothers; 
yes,  we  will  be  brothers." 

Then  came  four  presents,  the  third  of  whlcli  1 
enraptured  the  fathers.  It  was  a  belt  of  seven  f 
thousand  beads  of  wampum.  "  But  this,"  says 
I)M])lon,  "  was  as  nothing  to  the  words  that  accom- 
panied it."  "It  is  the  gift  of  the  faith,"  said  the  | 
orator ;  "  it  is  to  tell  you  that  we  are  believers  ;  it 
is  to  beg  you  not  to  tire  of  instructing  us;  have 
patience,  seeing  that  we  are  so  dull  in  learniiigi 
prayer;  push  it  into  our  heads  and  our  hearts.''! 
Then  he  led  Chaumonot  into  the  midst  of  the  as 
semljly,  clasped  him  in  his  arms,  tied  the  belt  aboiitl 
his  waist,  and  protested,  with  a  suspicious  reduii- 1 
dancy  of  words,  that  as  he  clasped  the  father,  so  J 
would  he  clasp  the  faith.  M 

What  had  wrought  this  sudden  change  of  heart! 
The  eagerness  of  the  Orondagas  that  the  Freiicli 
should  settle  among  them,  had,  no  doubt,  a  hu'iit. 
share  in  it.      For  the   rest,   the   two  Jesuits  saw 
abimdant  signs  of  the  fierce,  uncertain  nature  ot 
those  with  whom  they  were  dealing.     Erie  prison- 
ers were  brought  in  and  tortured  before  their  eye.*, 
one  of  them  being  a  young  stoic  of  about  ten  years,! 
who   endured   his   fate  without  a   single   outcrv,| 
Huron   women  and   children,  taken   in  war   anill 
adopted  by  their  captors,  were  killed  on  the  sliglit-| 
est  provocation,  and  sometimes  from  mere  capriceJ 


kibes  the  miracle 


DANT.rUS  AND   DIKFICULTIES. 


19 


Kor  several  days  iho  wliolo  town  was  in  an  uproar 
with  the  crazy  follies  of  the  ''dream  I'enst," '  jind 
[iiic  of  the  Fathers  nearly  lost  his  life  in  this  Indian 
Ik'dlani. 

One  point  was  clear;  the  French  nuist  make  a 

settlement  at  Onondaga,  and  tliat  speedily,  or,  de- 

ipite  their  professions  of  brotherhood,  the  Onon- 

la_u;as  would   make  war.      Their  attitude   became 

uenacing ;  from  urgency  they  passed  to  threats ; 

md  the  two  priests  felt  that  the  critical  posture  of 

ilTairs  must  at  once  be  reported  at  (Quebec.     But 

icre  a  difliculty  arose.     It  was  the  beaver-hunting 

Icason ;    and,    eager    as    wTre    the    Indians    for    a 

neiu'h  colony,  not  one   of   tlieiri  would   offer  to 

()ii(Uict  the  Jesuits  to   Quebec  in  order  to  fetch 

ine.     It  was  not  until  nine  masses  had  been  said 

Saint  John  the  Baptist,  that  a  number  of  Indians 

|oiisented    to    forego   their   hunting,    and    escort 

father  Dablon  home.^      Chaumonot  remained  at 

Inondaga,  to  watch  his  dangerous  hosts  and  soothe 

[leir  rising  jealousies. 

It  was  the  2d  of  March  when  Dablon  l)egan  his 

)urney.     His  constitution  must  have  been  of  iron, 

^'  lie  would  have  succumbed  to  the  appalling  hard- 

lips  of  the  way.     It  was  neither  winter  nor  spring. 

|lie  lakes  and  streams  were  not  yet  open,  but  the 

ilf-tliawed  ice  gave  Avay  beneath  the  foot.     One 

the   Indians   fell    through    and   was   drowmed. 

^vaiiip  and  forest  were  clogged  with  sodden  snow, 


^  See  Jesuits  in  North  America,  67. 

De  Quen,  Relation,  1656,  35.     Cliaumonot,  in  his  Autobiography, 
bribes  tlie  miracle  to  tlie  intercession  of  the  deceased  Brebeuf. 


20 


THE  JESUITS   AT   ONONDAGA. 


[lG56.HlGo6.] 


and  ceaseless  rain.-;  drenched  them  as  they  toiled 
on,  knee-deep  in  slush.  Happily,  the  St.  Lawrence 
was  open.  They  found  an  old  w^ooden  canoe  bj 
the  shore,  embarked,  and  reached  Montreal  afterj 
a  journey  of  four  weeks. 

Dablon  descended  to  Quebec.     There  was  longl 
and  anxious  counsel  in  the  chambers  of  Fort  St.l 
Louis.      The  Jesiuts  had  information  that,  if  tiiel 
demands   of  the   Onondagas  w^ere    rejected,  thL'}j 
would  join  the  Mohawks  to  destroy  Canada.     Bull 
why  were  they  so  eager  for  a  colony  of  rrencli{ 
men  ?     Did  tliey  want  them  as  hostages,  that  thevj 
might  attack  the  Ilurons  and  Algonquins  withoiitl 
risk  of  Frencli  interference ;  or  would  they  mas- 
sacre them,  and  then,  like  tigers  mad  with  the  tastej 
of  blood,  turn  upon  the  helpless  settlements  of  tliJ 
St.  Lawrence  ?     An  abyss  yawned  on  either  haiidj 
Lauson,  the  governor,  was  in  an  agony  of  indeii] 
sion,    but   at  length  declared  for    the  lesser  aiij 
remoter  peril,  and  gave  his  voice  for  the  coloiivl 
The  Jesuits  were  of  the  same  mind,  though  it  \\a\ 
they,  and  not  he,  who  must  bear  the  brunt  of  tlaiil 
ger.     ''  The  blood  of  the  martyrs  is  the  seed  of  tlit 
Church,"  said  one  of  them,  "  and,  if  we  die  by  tliJ 
lires  of  the  Iroquois,  we  shall  have  won  eternal  lill 
by  snatching  souls  from  the  fires  of  Hell." 

Preparation  Avas  begun  at  once.  The  expens 
fell  ou  the  Jesuits,  and  the  outfit  is  said  to  hav^ 
cost  tlieni  seven  thousand  livres,  —  a  heavv  suiu 
for  Canada  at  that  day.  A  pious  gentleman,  Zacl 
ary  Du  Puys,  major  of  the  fort  of  Quebec,  joiiieJ 
the   expedition   with  ten  soldiers;    and   betweeij 


[1056.  ■lGo6.] 


DEPARTURE. 


21 


thirty  and  forty  other  Frenchmen  also  enrolled  them- 
selves, impelled  by  devotion  or  destitution.     Four 
IjesuitSj   Le   Mercier,   the    superior,  with  Dablon, 
iMciKird,  and  Fremin,  besides  two  lay  brothers  of 
Ithe  order,  formed,  as  it  were,   the   pivot  of  the 
lenterprise.   The  governor  made  them  the  grant  of  a 
|liuii(lred  squate  leagues  of  land  in  the  heart  of  the 
[rocpiois  country,  —  a  preposterous  act,  which,  had 
[the  Iroquois  known  it,  would  have  rekindled  the 
war;  but  Lauson  had  a  mania  for  land-grants,  and 
was  himself  the  proprietor  of  vast  domains  which  he 
:;oul(l  have  occupied  only  at  the  cost  of  his  scalp. 

Embarked  in  two  large  boats  and  followed  by 
twelve  canoes  filled  with  Hurons,  Onondagas,  and 
few  Senecas  lately  arrived,  they  set  out  on  the 
Ttli  of  May  "  to  attack  the  demons,"  as  Le  Mer- 
Mer  writes,  "in  their  very  stronghold."  With 
^hoiits,  tears,  and  benedictions,  priests,  soldiers,  and 
Inhabitants  waved  farewell  from  the  strand.  They 
passed  the  bare  steeps  cf  Cape  Diamond  and  the 
(uission-house  nestled  beneath  the  heights  of  Sil- 
lery,  and  vanished  from  the  anxious  eyes  that 
^vatched  the  last  gleam  of  their  receding  oars.^ 

^Icanwhile  three  hundred  Mohawk  warriors  had 
taken  the  Avar-])ath,  b»ent  on  killing  or  ki(biapping 
the  Ilurons  of  Orleans.  AVhen  they  heard  of  the 
lleparture  of  the  colonists  for  Onondaga,  their  rage 
p.vas  ludjounded  ;  for  not  only  were  they  full  of 
icalousy  towards  their  Onondaga  confederates,  Init 
Iiey  had  hitherto  derived  great  profit  from  the 


'  Marie  de  I'lncarniition,  f.ettrcs,  V\^iC).     Le  Morcier,  lidutiou,  1067, 
111).  IV.     Chiiulnier,  youvvna  Monde,  II.  *JGo,  3'J2,  319. 


22 


THE  JESUITS  AT  ONONDAGA. 


[16.:C,  ■  1606.J 


control  wliicli  their  locul  position  gave  them  over  | 
the  traffic  between  this  tribe  and  the  Dutch  of  tliij 
Hudson,  upon  whom  the  Onondagas,  in  common 
with  all  the  upper  Iroquois,  had  been  dependent 
for   their   guns,   hatchets,   scalping-knives,  beads. 
blankets,  and  brand3^     These  su2)plies  would  now 
be  furnished  by  the  French,  and  the  Mohawk  spec- 
ulators saw  their  occupation  gone.     Nevertheless.! 
they  had  just  made  peace  with  the  French,  and.j 
for  the  moment,  w^ere  not  quite  in  the  mood  to| 
break  it.     To  wreak  their  spite,  they  took  a  mid- 
dle course,  crouched  in  ambush  among  the  bushes  I 
at  Point  St.  Croix,  ten  or  twelve  leagues  above 
Quebec,  allo^V(Jd  the  boats  bearing  the  French  to| 
pass  unmolested,  and  fired  a  volley  at  the  canoes 
in  the  rear,  lilled  Avith  Onondagas^  Senecas,  aii(l| 
Hurons.     Then  they  fell  upon  them  with  a  yell. 
and,  after  wounding  a  lay  brother  of  the  Jesuits! 
who  was  among  them,  flogged  and  bound  such  oij 
the  Indians  as  they  could  seize.     The  astonished 
Onondagas  protested  and  threatened ;  whereuponl 
the  Mohawks  feigned  great  surprise,  declared  tliatj 
they  had  mistaken  them  for  Hurons,  called  them 
brothers,  and  sult'ered  the  whole  party  to  escape 
without  further  injurv.^ 

The    three    hundred   maurauders   now   paddledj 
their  large  canoes    of   elm-bark    stealthily    down 
the  current,   passed   Quebec  luidiscovered  in  the 
dark  night  of  the   IDth  of  May,  landed  in  earh] 
morning  on  the  island  of  Orleans,  and  ambushed 


prisoners,  f 


them  to  si] 


'  Compare  Marie  de  rincarnation,  Lettre  14  Aout,  1656,  Le  Jeuiiei| 
Uelatiun,  1G57,  'J. 


[I6.:c.  ■  I606.J 


MOHAWK  INSOLENCE. 


23 


themselves  to  surprise  the  Hiirons  as  they  came 
to  Uibor  in  their  cornfields.  They  were  tolerably 
successful,  killed  six,  and  captured  more  than 
eighty,  the  rest  taking  refuge  in  their  I'ort,  where 
the  Mohawks  dared  not  attack  them. 

At  noon,  the  French  on  the  rock  of  Quebec  saw 
forty  canoes  approaching  from  the  island  of  Or- 
leans, and  defiling,  with  insolent  parade,  in  front  of 
the  town,  all  crowded  with  the  Mohawks  and  their 
prif-oners,  among  whom  were  a  great  number  of 
Huron  girls.  Their  captors,  as  they  passed,  forced 
them  to  sing  and  dance.  The  Hurons  were  the 
allies,  or  rather  the  wards  of  the  French,  who 
^vere  in  every  way  pledged  to  protect  them.  Yet 
the  cannon  of  Fort  St.  Louis  were  silent,  and  the 
crowd  stood  gaping  in  bewilderment  and  fright. 
Had  an  attack  been  made,  nothing  but  a  complete 
success  and  the  capture  of  many  prisoners  to  serve 
as  hostages  could  have  prevented  the  enraged  Mo- 
hawks from  taking  their  revenge  on  the  Onondaga 
colonists.  The  emergency  demanded  a  promjit  and 
clear-sighted  soldier.  The  governor,  Lauson,  was 
a  gray-haired  civilian,  who,  however  enterprising 
a.s  a  speculator  in  wild  lands,  was  in  no  way  matched 
to  the  desperate  crisis  of  the  hour.  Souie  of  the 
Mohawks  landed  above  and  below  the  town,  and 
plundered  the  houses  from  which  the  scared  inhab- 
itants had  fled.  Not  a  soldier  stirred  and  not  a  gun 
^vas  fired.  The  French,  bullied  by  a  horde  of  naked 
savages,  became  an  object  of  contempt  to  their 
own  allies. 

The   Mohawks    carried    their    prisoners    home, 


24 


THE  JESUITS  AT  ONOXDAGA. 


[1656.  ■  16.56.] 


burned  six  of  them,  and  adopted  or  rather  en- 
slaved the  re.st.^ 

Meanwhile  the  Onondaga  colonists  pursued  their 
perilous  way.  At  Montreal  they  exchanged  their 
heavy  boats  for  canoes,  and  resumed  their  journey 
with  a  flotilla  of  twenty  of  these  sylvan  vessels.  A 
few  days  after,  the  Indians  of  the  party  had  the 
satisfaction  of  pillaging  a  small  band  of  Mohawk 
hunters,  in  vicarious  reprisal  for  their  own  wrongs. 
On  the  26th  of  June,  as  they  neared  Lake  Ontario, 
they  heard  a  loud  and  lamentable  voice  from  the 
edge  of  the  forest;  whereupon, having  beaten  their 
drum  to  show  that  they  were  Frenchmen,  they  l^e- 
held  a  spectral  figure,  lean  and  covered  with  scars, 
which  proved  to  be  a  pious  Huron,  one  Joachim 
Ondakout,  captured  by  the  MohaAvks  in  their  de- 
scent on  the  island  ol  Orleans,  five  or  six  weeks 
before.  They  had  carried  him  to  their  village  and 
begun  to  torture  him  ;  after  which  they  tied  him 
fast  and  lo  v  down  to  sleep,  thinking  to  resume 
their  pleasure  on  the  morrow.  His  cuts  and  burns 
being  (  nly  on  the  surface,  he  had  the  good  fortime 
to  free  himself  from  his  bonds,  and,  naked  as  he  was, 
to  escape  to  the  woods.  He  held  his  course  north- 
westward, thi'ough  regions  even  now  a  wihlerness, 
gathered  wild  strawberries  to  sustain  life,  and,  in 
fifteen  days,  reached  the  St.  Lawrence,  nearly  dead 
with  exhaustion.  The  Frenchmen  gave  him  food 
and  a  canoe,  and  the  living  skeleton  paddled  with 
a  hght  heart  for  Quebec. 

The  colonists  themselves  soon  beiran  to  suffer 


1  See  authorities  just  cited,  and  Perrot,  Moeurs  des  Sauvaijes,  106. 


1656.] 


FAMINE. 


25 


from  hunger.  Their  fishing  failed  on  Lake  Ontario, 
and  they  were  forced  to  content  themselves  with 
cranberries  of  the  last  year,  gathered  in  the  mead- 
ows. Of  their  Indians,  all  but  five  deserted  them. 
The  Father  Superior  fell  ill,  and  when  they  reached 
tlio  mouth  of  the  Oswego  many  of  the  starving 
Frenchmen  had  completely  lost  heart.  Weary  and 
faint,  they  dragged  their  canoes  up  the  rapids,  when 
suddenly  they  were  cheered  by  the  sight  of  a  stran- 
ger canoe  swiftly  descending  the  current.  The 
Oiiondagas,  aware  of  their  approach,  had  sent  it  to 
meet  them,  laden  with  Indian  corn  and  fresh  salmon. 
Two  more  canoes  followed,  freighted  like  the  first ; 
and  now  all  was  abundance  till  they  readied  their 
journey's  end,  the  Lake  of  Onondaga.  It  lay  before 
them  in  the  July  sun,  a  glittering  mirror,  framed 
in  forest  verdure. 

Tliey  kncAv  that  Chaumonot  with  a  crowd  of  In- 
dians was  awaiting  them  at  a  spot  on  the  margin 
of  the  water,  which  he  and  Dablon  had  chosen  as 
the  site  of  their  settlement.  Landing  on  the  strand, 
they  fired,  to  give  liotice  of  their  approach,  five 
small  cannon  which  they  had  brought  in  their 
canoes.  Waves,  woods,  and  hills  resounded  Avith 
the  thimder  of  their  miniature  artillery.  Then  re- 
embarking,  they  advanced  in  order,  four  canoes 
abreast,  towards  the  destined  spot.  In  front  flotited 
I  their  banner  of  white  silk,  embroidered  in  large 
letters  with  the  name  of  Jesus.  Here  were  Du 
Pays  and  his  soldiers,  with  the  picturesque  uni- 
forms and  quaint  weapons  of  their  time ;  Le  Mer- 
cier  and  his  Jesuits  in  robes  of  black  ;  hunters  and 


I' 
I 


26 


THE  JESUITS  AT   ONONDAGA. 


[1656. 


bush-rangers ;  Indians  painted  and  feathered  for  a 
festal  day.  As  they  neared  the  phice  where  a  spring 
bubbUng  from  the  hillside  is  still  known  as  the 
"  Jesuits'  Well,"  they  saw  the  edge  of  the  forest 
dark  with  the  muster  of  savaiJ:es  whose  veils  of 
welcome  answered  the  salvo  of  their  guns.  Happily 
for  them,  a  flood  of  summer  rain  saved  them  from 
the  harangues  of  the  Onondaga  orators,  and  forced 
white  men  and  red  alike  to  seek  such  shelter  as 
they  could  find.  Their  hosts,  with  hospitable  in- 
tent, would  fain  have  sung  and  danced  all  night; 
but  the  Frenchmen  pleaded  fatigue,  and  the  court- 
eous savages,  squatting  around  their  tents,  chanted 
in  monotonous  t  les  to  lull  them  to  sleep.  In 
the  morning  they  woke  refreshed,  sang  1\ 
Deiim,  reared  an  altar,  and,  with  a  solemn  mass, 
took  possession  of  +l.ie  country  in  the  name  of 
Jesus.^ 

Three  things,  which  they  saw  or  heard  of  in  their 
new  home,  excited  their  astonishment.  The  first 
was  the  vast  flight  of  wild  pigeoi\s  which  in  spring 
darkened  the  air  around  the  Lake  of  Onondaga; 
the  second  was  the  salt  springs  of  Salina;  the  third 
was  the  rattlesnakes,  which  Le  Mercier  describes 
with  excellent  precision,  adding  that,  as  he  learns 
from  the  Indians,  their  tails  are  good  for  toothache 
and  their  flesh  for  fever.  These  reptiles,  for  reasons 
best  known  to  themselves,  haunted  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  salt-springs,  but  did  not  intrude  their 
presence  into  the  abode  of  the  French. 

On  the  17th  of  July,  Le  Mercier  and  Chaumonot, 

1  Lo  Mercier,  Relation,  1GG7,  14. 


1G5G.] 


THE  IROQUOIS   CAPITAL. 


27 


escorted  by  a  file  of  soldiers,  set  out  for  Onondaga, 
scarcely  five  leagues  distant.  They  followed  the 
Indian  trail,  under  the  leafy  arches  of  the  woods, 
In-  hill  and  hollow,  still  swamp  and  gurgling  brook, 
till  through  the  opening  foliage  they  saw  the  Iro- 
(juois  capital,  compassed  with  cornfields  and  girt 
with  its  rugged  palisade.  As  the  Jesuits,  like  black 
spectres,  issued  from  the  shadows  of  the  forest,  fol- 
lowed by  the  plumed  soldiers  writh  shouldered  ar- 
quebuses, the  red-skinned  population  swarmed  out 
like  bees,  and  they  defiled  to  the  town  through 
gazing  and  admiring  throngs.  All  conspired  to 
welcome  them.  Feast  followed  feast  throughout 
the  afternoon,  till,  what  with  harangues  and  songs, 
bear's  meat,  beaver-tails,  and  venison,  beans,  corn, 
and  grease,  they  were  wellnigh  killed  with  kindness. 
''  K,  after  this,  they  murder  us,"  w^rites  Le  Mercier, 
^'  it  will  be  from  fickleness,  not  premeditated  treach- 
ery." But  the  Jesuits,  it  seems,  had  not  sounded 
the  depths  of  Iroquois  dissimulation.^ 

There  was  one  exception  to  the  real  or  pretended 
joy.  Some  Mohawks  were  in  the  town,  and  their 
orator  was  insolent  and  sarcastic ;  but  the  ready 
tongue  of  Chaumonot  turned  the  laugh  against  him 
and  put  him  to  shame. 

Here  burned  the  c^nmcil  fire  of  the  Iroquois,  and 
at  this  very  time  the  deputies  of  the  five  tribes 
were  assembling.    The  session  opened  on  the  24th. 

'  The  Jesuits  were  afterwards  told  by  Hurons,  captive  among  tlie 
Moiiawks  and  the  Oiionchigas,  that,  from  tiie  first,  it  was  intemled  to 
uiMssacre  the  Frencli  as  soon  as  their  presence  had  attracted  the  remnant 
of  the  Hurons  of  Orleans  into  the  power  of  the  Onondagas.  Ltllve  da  P. 
li'Kjnuieau  au  /'.  I'.  Provincial,  81  Aoul,  1068. 


28 


THE  JESUITS  AT  ONONDAGA. 


[1656. 


lip 


In  the  great  council  liouse,  on  the  earthen  floor 
and  the  broad  platforms  beneath  the  smoke- 
begrimed  concave  of  the  bark  roof,  stood,  sat,  or 
squatted,  the  Avisdom  and  valor  of  the  confederacy ; 
Mohawks,  Oneidas,  Onondagas,  Cayugas,  and  Sen- 
ecas;  sachems,  counsellors,  orators,  warriors  fresh 
from  Erie  victories ;  tall,  stalwart  figures,  limbed 
like  Grecian  statues. 

The  pressing  business  of  the  council  over,  it'  was 
Chaumonot's  turn  to  speak.  But,  first,  all  the 
Frenchmen,  kneeling  in  a  row,  with  clasped  hands, 
sang  the  Veni  Creator,  amid  the  silent  admiration 
of  the  auditors.  Then  Chaumonot  rose,  with  an 
immense  wampum-belt  in  his  hand. 

^'  It  is  not  trade  that  brings  us  here.  Do  you 
think  that  your  beaver  skins  can  pay  us  for  all  our 
toils  and  dangers  ?  Keep  them,  if  you  like  ;  or,  if 
any  fall  into  our  hands,  we  shall  use  them  only  for 
your  service.  We  seek  not  the  things  that  perish. 
It  is  for  the  Faith  that  we  have  left  our  homes  to 
live  in  your  hovels  of  bark,  and  eat  food  which  the 
beasts  of  our  country  would  scarcely  touch.  We 
are  the  messengers  Avhom  God  Jias  sent  to  tell  you 
that  his  Son  became  a  man  for  the  love  of  you ; 
that  this  man,  the  Son  of  God,  is  the  prince  and 
master  of  men ;  that  he  has  prepared  in  heaven 
eternal  joys  for  those  who  obey  him,  and  kindled 
the  fires  of  hell  for  those  who  will  not  receive  his 
word.  If  you  reject  it,  whoever  you  are,  —  Onon- 
daga, Seneca,  Mohawk,  Cayuga,  or  Oneida,  —  know 
that  Jesus  Christ,  who  inspires  my  heart  and  my 
voice,  will  plunge  you  one  day  into  hell.     Avert 


105G.J 


THE  NEW  MISSION. 


29 


tills  ruin ;  be  not  the  (iiithors  of  your  own  destruc- 
tion ;  accept  the  truth ;  hsten  to  the  voice  of  the 
Omnipotent." 

Such,  in  brief,  was  the  pith  of  the  father's  ex- 
hortation. As  he  spoke  Indian  hke  a  native,  and 
{IS  his  voice  and  gestures  answered  to  his  words, 
we  may  beheve  what  Le  Mercier  tells  us,  that  liis 
hearers  listened  with  mingled  wonder,  admiration, 
and  terror.  The  work  was  well  begun.  The  Jesuits 
struck  while  the  iron  was  hot,  built  a  small  chapel 
for  the  mass,  installed  themselves  in  the  town,  and 
preached  and  catechised  from  morning  till  night. 

The  Frenchmen  at  the  lake  were  not  idle.  The 
chosen  site  of  their  settlement  was  the  crown  of  a 
hill  commanding  a  broad  view  of  waters  and  forests. 
The  axemen  fell  to  their  work,  and  a  ghastly  wound 
soon  gaped  in  the  green  bosom  of  the  woodland. 
Here,  among  the  stumps  and  prostrate  trees  of  the 
unsightly  clearing,  the  blacksmith  built  his  forge, 
saw  and  hammer  plied  their  trade ;  palisades  were 
shaped  and  beams  squared,  in  spite  of  heat,  mos- 
quitoes, and  fever.  At  one  time  twenty  men  were 
ill,  and  lay  gasping  under  a  wretched  shed  of  bark  ; 
but  thev  all  recovered,  and  the  work  went  on  till 
at  length  a  capacious  house,  large  enough  to  hold 
the  whole  colony,  rose  above  the  ruin  of  the  forest. 
A  palisade  was  set  around  it,  and  the  Mission  of 
Saint  Mary  of  Gannentaa^  was  begun. 

France  and  the  Faith  were  intrenched  on  the 
Lake  of  Onondaga      How  long  would  they  remain 


'  Gannentaa  or  Ganuntaah  is  still  the  Ti-cquois  name  for  Lake  Onon- 
daga.   According  to  Morgan,  it  means  "  Material  for  Council  Fire." 


30 


THE  JESUITS  AT   ONONDAGA. 


[1656. 


there  ?  The  future  alone  could  tell.  The  mission, 
it  must  not  he  forgotten,  had  a  douhlc  scope, 
half,  ecclesiastical,  half  political.  The  Jesuits  had 
essayed  a  fearful  task,  —  to  convert  the  Iroquois  to 
God  and  to  the  king,  thwart  the  Dutch  heretics  of 
the  Hudson,  save  souls  from  hell,  avert  ruin  from 
Canada,  and  thus  raise  their  order  to  a  place  of 
honor  and  inOuence  hoth  hard  earned  and  well 
eariled.  The  mission  at  Lake  Ononda2:a  was  but 
a  base  of  operations.  Long  before  they  were  lodged 
and  fortified  here,  Chaimi.onot  and  Menard  set  out 
for  the  Cayugas,  whence  the  former  proceeded  to 
the  Senecas,  the  most  numerous  and  powerful  of 
the  five  confederate  nations ;  and  in  the  following 
spring  another  mission  was  begun  among  the  On- 
eidas.  Their  reception  was  not  unfriendly ;  but 
such  was  the  reticence  and  dissimulation  of  these 
inscrutable  savages,  that  it  was  impossible  to  fore- 
tell results.  The  women  proved,  as  might  be  ex- 
pected, far  more  impressible  than  the  men ;  and  in 
them  the  fathers  placed  great  hope ;  since  in  this, 
the  most  savage  people  of  the  continent,  women 
held  a  degree  of  political  influence  never  perhaps 
equalled  in  any  civilized  nation.^ 

1  Women,  among  tlie  Iroquois,  liad  a  council  of  tlieir  own,  whicli, 
according  to  Lafitau,  wlio  knew  this  people  well,  had  the  initiative  in 
discussion,  pubjects'  presented  by  them  being  settled  in  tlie  council  of 
chiefs  and  elders.  In  this  latter  council  the  women  had  an  orator,  often 
of  their  own  sex,  to  represent  them.  Tlie  matrons  had  a  leading  voice  in 
determining  the  succession  of  chiefs.  Tliere  were  also  female  chiefs,  one 
of  whom,  with  her  attendants,  came  to  Quebec  with  an  embassy  in  IBoo 
(Marie  de  1' Incarnation).  In  the  torture  of  prisoners,  great  deference 
was  paid  to  the  judgment  of  the  women,  who,  says  Champlain,  were 
thought  more  skilful  and  subtle  than  the  men. 

The  learned  Lafitau,  whose  book  appeared  in  1724,  dwells  at  length 


10.'>7.1 


JESUIT  COURAGE. 


31 


But  while  infants  were  baptized  and  squaws  Cvin- 
verted,  the  crosses  of  the  mission  were  many  and 
oieat.  The  devil  bestirred  himself  with  more  than 
his  ordinary  activity ;  "  for,"  as  one  of  the  fathers 
writes,  "  when  m  sundry  nations  of  the  earth  men 
are  rising  up  m  strife  against  us  (the  Jesuits),  then 
how  much  more  the  demons,  on  whom  we  con- 
tinually wage  war  !  "  It  was  these  infernal  sprites, 
as  the  priests  believed,  who  engendered  suspicions 
and  calumnies  in  the  dark  and  superstitious  minds 
of  the  Iroquois,  and  prompted  them  in  dreams  to 
destroy  the  apostles  of  the  faith.  Whether  the 
foe  was  of  earth  or  hell,  the  Jesuits  were  like  those 
who  tread  the  lava-crust  that  palpitates  with  the 
throes  of  the  coming  eruption,  while  the  molten 
(Iciith  beneath  their  feet  glares  white-hot  through 
a  thousand  crevices.  Yet,  with  a  sublime  enthu- 
siasm and  a  glorious  constancy,  they  toiled  and 
tlioy  hoped,  though  the  skies  around  were  black 
with  portent. 

In  the  year  m  which  the  colony  at  Onondaga 
was  begun,  the  Mohawks  murdered  the  Jesuit  Gar- 
reau,  on  his  way  up  the  Ottawa.  In  the  following 
spring,  a  hundred  Mohawk  warriors  came  to  Quebec, 
to  carry  more  of  the  Hurons  into  slavery,  though 
the  remnant  of  that  unhappy  people,  since  the 
catastrophe  of  the  last  year,  had  s 


It 


t< 
r. 
I 
»• 


•O" 


safety 


on  tlie  resemblance  of  the  Iroquois  to  the  ancient  Lycians,  among  whom, 
according  to  Grecian  writers,  women  were  in  tlie  ascendant.  "  Gynecoc- 
racy,  or  tlie  rule  of  women,"  continues  Lafitau,  "which  was  che  founda- 
tion of  the  Lycian  government,  was  probably  common  in  f  arly  times  to 
nearly  all  the  barbarous  people  of  Greece."  Afteurs  des  S  luvagcs,  I.  460 
(ed.  in  4to) 


32 


THE  JESUITS  AT   ONONDAGA. 


[16o7 


palisiidod  cjiiup  witliln  tlie  limits  of  the  Frciicli 
town,  and  iiiiiiitMlijitely  iiiKltM-  the  ramparts  of  Fort 
St.  Louis.  Here,  one  might  think,  they  ^voukl 
huve  been  safe ;  but  Chjirny,  son  and  successor  of 
Lauson,  seems  to  have  been  even  more  imbecile 
than  his  father,  and  Ustened  meekly  to  the  threjits 
of  the  insolent  strangers  who  told  him  that  unless 
lie  abandoned  the  Ilurons  to  their  mercy,  both  they 
and  the  French  should  feel  the  weight  of  Mohawk 
tomahawks.  They  demanded  further,  that  the 
French  should  give  them  boats  to  carry  their 
prisoners ;  but,  as  there  were  none  at  hand,  this 
last  humiliation  was  spared.  The  Mohawks  were 
forced  to  make  canoes,  in  which  they  carried  oft'  as 
many  as  possible  of  their  victims. 

When  the  Onondagas  learned  this  last  exploit  of 
their  rivals,  their  jealousy  knew  no  bounds,  and  a 
troop  of  them  descended  to  Quebec  to  claim  their 
share  in  the  human  plunder.  Deserted  by  the 
French,  the  despairing  Hurons  abandoned  them- 
selves to  their  fate,  and  about  fifty  of  those  whom 
the  Mohawks  had  left  obeyed  the  behest  of  their 
tyrants  and  embarked  for  Onondaga.  They  reached 
Montreal  in  July,  and  thence  proceeded  towards 
their  destination  in  company  with  the  Onondaga 
warriors.  The  Jesuit  Ragueneau,  bound  also  for 
Onondaga,  joined  them.  Five  leagues  above  Mon- 
treal, the  warriors  left  him  behind ;  but  he  found 
an  old  canoe  on  the  bank,  in  which,  after  abandon- 
ing most  of  his  baggage,  he  contrived  to  follow 
with  two  or  three  Frenchmen  who  were  w^ith  him. 
There  was  a  rumor  that  a  hundred  Mohawk  war- 


ir,57.] 


ONONDAGA  TliEACIIERY. 


33 


riors  were  lying  in  wait  among  the  Tliousand 
Isltinds,  to  plunder  the  Onondagas  of  their  Huron 
prisoners.  It  proved  a  false  report.  A  speedier 
catastrophe  awaited  these  unfortunates. 

Towards  evening  on  the  3d  of  August,  after  the 
party  had  landed  to  encamp,  an  Onondaga  chief 
made  advances  to  a  Christian  Huron  girl,  as  he  had 
already  done  at  every  encanipnient  since  leaving 
Montreal.  Being  repulsed  for  the  fourth  time,  he 
split  her  head  with  his  tomahawk.  It  was  the 
be<i'innin(]j  of  a  massacre.  The  Ononda<!:as  rose 
upon  their  prisoners,  killed  seven  men,  all  Chris- 
tians, before  the  eyes  of  the  horrified  Jesuit,  and 
plundered  the  rest  of  all  they  had.  When  Rague- 
neau  protested,  they  told  him  with  insolent  mockery 
that  they  were  acting  by  direction  of  the  governor 
and  the  superior  of  the  Jesuits  The  priest  him- 
self was  secretly  warned  that  he  was  to  be  killed 
during  the  night;  and  he  was  surprised  in  the 
morninf]^  to  find  himself  alive. ^  On  reachino;  Onon- 
claga,  some  of  the  Christian  captives  Avere  burned, 
including  several  women  and  their  infant  chil- 
dren.^ 

The  confederacy  was  a  hornet's  nest,  buzzino: 

«/  '  CD 

with  preparation,  and  fast  pouring  out  its  wrathful 
swarms.  The  indomitable  Le  Moyne  had  gone  again 
to  the  Mohawks,  whence  he  wrote  that  two  hundred 
of  them  had  taken  the  war-path  against  the  Algon- 
quius  of  Canada ;  and,  a  little  later,  that  all  were 
gone  but  women,  children,  and  old  men.     A  great 

1  fjttre  de  liacjiieneau  au  li.  P.  Provincial,  9  Aout,  1657  (Rel.,  1657). 

2  Ibid.,  21  Aout,  1658  {ReL,  1658). 

3 


I. 
I- 


34 


THE  JESUITS  AT  ONONDAGA. 


[1657. 


war-party  of  twelve  hundred  Iroquois  from  all 
the  five  cantons  was  to  advance  into  Canada  in  the 
direction  of  the  Ottawa.  The  settlements  on  the 
St.  Lawrence  were  infested  with  prowling  warriors, 
who  killed  the  Indian  allies  of  the  French,  and 
plundered  the  French  themselves,  w^hom  thej 
treated  with  an  insufferable  insolence  ;  for  thej 
felt  themselves  masters  of  the  situation,  and  knew 
that  the  Onondaga  colony  was  in  their  power.  Near 
Montreal  they  killed  three  Frenchmen.  "  Thej 
approacl:  like  foxes,"  writes  a  Jesuit,  ^'  attack  like 
lions,  and  disappear  like  birds."  Charny,  fortu- 
natel;) ,  had  resigned  the  government  in  despair,  in 
order  to  turn  priest,  and  the  brave  soldier  Aille- 
bout  had  taken  his  place.  He  caused  twelve  of 
the  Iroquois  to  be  seized  and  held  as  hostages. 
This  seemed  to  increase  their  fury.  An  embassy 
came  tc  Quebec  and  demanded  the  release  of  the 
hostages,  but  ^.ere  met  with  a  sharp  reproof  and  a 
flat  refusal. 

At  the  mission  on  Lake  Onondaga  the  crisis 
was  drawing  near.  The  unbridled  young  warriors, 
whose  cai)ricious  lawlessness  often  set  at  naught 
the  monitions  of  their  crafty  elders,  killed  wantonly 
at  various  times  thirteen  Christian  Hurons,  cap- 
tives at  Onondaga.  Ominous  reports  reached  the 
ears  of  the  colonists.  They  heard  of  a  secret  council 
at  svhich  their  death  was  decreed.  Again,  they 
heard  that  they  were  to  be  surprised  and  captured, 
that  the  Iroquois  in  force  were  then  to  descend 
upon  Canada,  lay  waste  the  outlying  settlements. 
and  torture  them,  the  colonists,  in  sight  of  their 


])arrassed  th( 


1058.] 


FRIGHTFUL   POSITION. 


85 


countrymen,  by  whicli  they  hoped  to  extort  what 
terms  they  pleased.  At  length,  a  dying  Onondaga, 
recently  converted  and  baptized,  confirmed  the 
rumors,  and  revealed  the  whole  plot. 

It  was  to  take  effect  before  the  spring  opened ; 
but  the  hostages  in  the  hands  of  Aillebont  em- 
1)arrassed  the  conspirators  and  caused  delay.  Mes- 
sengers were  sent  in  haste  to  call  in  the  priests 
from  the  detached  missions,  and  all  the  colonists, 
fifty-three  in  number,  were  soon  gathered  at  their 
fortified  house  on  the  lake.  Their  situation  was 
frightful.  Fate  hung  over  them  b}^  a  hair,  and 
escape  seemed  hopeless.  Of  Du  Puys's  ten  soldiers, 
nine  wished  to  lesert,  but  the  attempt  would  have 
been  fatal.  A  thron<»;  of  Onondaura  warriors  were 
(lay  and  night  on  the  watch,  bivouacked  around 
the  house.  Some  of  them  had  built  their  huts  of 
bark  before  the  gate,  and  here,  with  calm,  impas- 
sive faces,  they  lounged  and  smoked  their  pipes ; 
or,  wrapped  in  their  blankets,  strolled  aJjoiit  the 
yards  and  outhouses,  attentive  to  all  that  passed. 
Their  behavior  was  very  friendly.  The  Jesuits, 
themselves  adepts  in  dissimulation,  were  amazed  at 
the  depth  of  their  duplicity;  for  the  conviction  had 
been  forced  upon  them  tliat  some  of  the  chiefs  had 
nursed  their  treachery  from  the  first.  In  this  ex- 
tremity Du  Puys  and  the  Jesuits  showed  an  admi- 
rable coolness,  and  among  them  devised  a  plan  of 
os('a])e,  critical  and  full  of  doubt,  but  not  devoid 
of  hope. 

First,  they  must  provide  means  of  transporta- 
tion; next,  they  must  contrive  to  use  them  undis- 


e 
t 

I 

I 

r 

I 


36 


THE  JESUITS  AT   ONONDAGA. 


[1058, 


lijii   1 


coverefl.  They  had  eight  canoes,  all  of  wliicli 
combined  would  not  hold  half  their  company. 
Over  the  mission-house  was  a  large  loft  or  garret, 
and  here  the  carpenters  were  secretly  set  at  work 
to  construct  two  large  and  light  flat-boats,  each 
capable  of  carrying  fifteen  men.  The  task  was 
soon  finished.  The  most  difficult  part  of  their  plan 
remained. 

There  was  a  beastly  superstition  prevalent  among 
the  Hurons,  the  Iroquois,  and  other  tribes.  It  con- 
sisted of  a  ''  medicine  "  or  mystic  feast,  in  which  it 
was  essential  that  the  guests  should  devour  every 
thing  set  before  them,  however  inordinate  in  quan- 
tity, unless  absolved  from  duty  by  the  person  in 
wdiose  behalf  the  solemnity  was  ordained ;  he,  on 
his  part,  taking  no  share  in  the  banquet.  So  grave 
was  the  obligation,  and  so  strenuously  did  the 
guests  fulfil  it,  that  even  their  ostrich  digestion 
was  sometimes  ruined  past  redemption  by  the 
excess  of  this  benevolent  gluttony.  These  festlns 
a  monger  tout  had  been  frequently  denounced  as| 
dial)olical  by  the  Jesuits,  during  their  mission 
among  the  Hurons ;  but  now,  with  a  pliancy  of  | 
conscience  as  excusable  in  this  case  as  in  any 
other,  they  resolved  to  set  aside  their  scruples, 
although,  judged  from  their  point  of  view,  thoy| 
w^re  exceeflingly  well  founded. 

Among  the  French  was  a  young  man  who  liad! 
been  adopted  by  an  Iroquois  chief,  and  who  spoke 
the  language  fluently.     He  now  told  his  Indian  I 
father  that  it  had  been  revealed  to  him  in  a  dream 
that  he  would   soon  die  unless  the  spirits  were 


1658.] 


THE  MEDICINE  FEAST. 


37 


appeased  by  one  of  these  magic  feasts.  Dreams 
Avere  the  oracles  of  the  Iroquois,  and  woe  to  those 
who  sUghted  them.  A  day  was  named  for  the 
sacred  festivity.  The  fathers  killed  their  hogs  to 
meet  the  occasion,  and,  that  nothing  might  be 
wanting,  they  ransacked  their  stores  for  all  that 
might  give  piquancy  to  the  entertainment.  It 
took  place  in  the  evening  of  the  20th  of  March, 
apparently  in  a  large  enclosure  outside  the  palisade 
surrounding  the  mission-house.  Here,  while  blazing 
fires  or  glaring  pine-knots  shed  their  glow  on  the 
A\  ikl  assemblage.  Frenchmen  and  Iroquois  joined  in 
the  dance,  or  vied  with  each  other  in  games  of 
agility  and  skill.  The  politic  fathers  offered  prizes 
to  the  winners,  and  the  Indians  entered  with  zest 
into  the  sport,  the  better,  perhaps,  to  hide  their 
treachery  and  hoodwink  their  intended  victims ; 
for  they  little  suspected  that  a  subtlety,  deeper 
this  time  than  their  own,  was  at  work  to  counter- 
mine them.  Here,  too,  were  the  French  musicians ; 
and  drum,  trumpet,  and  cymbal  lent  their  clangor 
to  the  din  oi  shouts  and  laughter.  Thus  the  even- 
ing wore  on,  till  at  length  the  serious  labors  of  the 
fejist  began.  The  kettles  were  brought  in,  and 
their  steaming  contents  ladled  into  the  wooden 
bowls  which  each  provident  guest  had  brought 
with  him.  Seated  gravely  in  a  ring,  they  fell  to 
their  work.  It  was  a  point  of  high  conscience  not 
to  lliiich  from  duty  on  these  solemn  occasions  ;  and 
though  they  might  burn  the  young  man  to-morrow, 
they  would  gorge  themselves  like  vultures  in  his 
behoof  to-day. 


r 


38 


THE  .TESniTS   AT   ONON'DAGA. 


lir.58. 


T\r(Nintiin(\  wliili'  the  inusiciuns  strniiUMl  (Iumi- 
luno's  jind  tlu'ir  nrms  to  di'own  all  ollior  souikIs. 
n  hniid  of  anxious  FriMichnuMi,  in  the  darkness  of 
tlj(^  cloudy  niii'lit,  with  cautious  ti'oad  and  baicd 
breath,  carried  tlu»  hoals  fi'oni  the  rear  of  the  niis- 
sion-hous(»  down  to  the  horder  of  the  hdvo.     It.  was 

ar   eleven   o'clock.     'I  !.v'   niiserahle  iruests  wvw 


nc 


chokin^ij:  with  n^pletion.  Thvy  \)v  (mI  the  young 
Fi'cMiclunan  to  dispense  thcni  from  further  surfeit. 
"Will  you  sulVer  me  to  die?"  he  asked,  in  piteous 


tones, 
soon  rea( 


T\\vv  hent  io  their  task  aiiain,  hut   Nature 


■hod  1 


ler  utmost  Hunt  :  an( 


;1  tl 


lev  sa 


t  .  vlp- 


less   as   a   conveuilcle  of  gorgiMl   turkey-huzza rds, 
withoui    (lu    ptnver  possessed    hy   those   unseemly 


birds  to  rid  tluMnst»lves  of  the  burden. 


I^liat.  will 


do."  said  the  vouni;'  man  ;  ''  vou  have  eaten  euouuli; 


mv 


lit 


e  IS  savcM 


1.     N. 


.1 


ow  you  can  sleep  Mil  we  como 


till 


in  the  morninu'  to  waken  vou  for  nra\ei's."*     And 
one  of  his  companions  plaved  soft  jiirs  on  a  violin 


T 


I 


to  lull  tluMU  to  repose.  Soon  all  were  asleep,  or 
in  a  lelharu'v  akin  to  sleei).  The  few  remaini'nii' 
Frenchmen  now  silentlv  withdrew  and  cautiously 
descended  to  the  shore,  where  their  conn-ades,  nl- 
readv  end^arked.  lav  on  their  oars  anxiouslv  await- 
ing  them.     Snow  was  falling  fast  as  they  ])ushc(l 


out  n]K)n  the  murky  waters.  1  he  ice  ot  the  winter 
liad  brt)ken  up.  but  recent  frosts  had  glazed  the 
surface  with  a  thin  crust.  The  two  boats  led  the 
way,  and  the  canoes  followed  in  their  Avake,  while 
men  in  the  bows  of  the  foremost  boat  broke  the 
ice   with  clubs  as  they  advanced.     They  reached 

^^Lettre  dc  Miin'e  de  I'lncamation  a  son  jils,  -i  Odohre,  1G58. 


.scratching  ii 


'  (^11  the  On 

tinii,  f.ittirs  llisli 
tilt'  ^tory  is  told 
iiinl   journals.     < 


ir»:.H.l 


rKIU'LEXITY   OF   TIIK    IltOQUOIS. 


39 


\]\o  outlet  and  rowed  swiftly  down  the  dnrk  cur- 
iciil  of  the  Oswego.  When  day  hmke,  Lid\e  Onon- 
(l.'i"'ii  was  far  hehind,  and  ai'ound  them  was  the 
k'iilless,  lifeh\ss   foi'est 

Wlien  the  Indians  woke  in  the  morning,  dull  and 
siiipelied  from  theii*  nightnuire  slundxM's,  they  were 
juslonished  at  the  silenci^  that  reigned  in  the  mission- 
liouse.  They  looked  through  the  i)alisjide.  Noth- 
iiiti'  was  slii'riny:  hut  a  hew  of  I'^'ns  oluckiny:  and 
scratehing  in  the  snow,  and  one  or  two  dogs  im- 
piisoned  in  the  house  and  harking  to  he  set  IVce. 
The  Indians  waited  for  some  time,  then  elind)ed 
lli(>  palisade,  hurst  in  the  doors,  and  found  the 
house  empty.  Their  amazement  was  u!d)oun(k  1. 
How,  williout  canoes,  eould  the  French  have  es- 
ciped  hy  water?  and  how  else  could  they  escape? 
The  snow  which  had  fallen  during  the  night  com- 
pletely hid  their  footsteps.  A  su[)erstitious  iwe 
seized  the  Iroquois.  They  thought  that  the  ''  hlack- 
roI)es  "  and  their  flock  had  llown  off  through  the 
air. 

Meanwhile  the  fugitives  pushed  their  lliglit  with 
I  ho  energy  of  terror,  passed  in  safety  the  rapids 
of  tiie  Oswego,  crossed  Lake  Ontario,  and  de- 
scended the  St.  Lawrence  with  the  loss  of  three 
nuMi  (h'owned  in  the  rapids.  On  the  od  of  April 
they  reached  jNIontieal,  and  on  the  2od  arrived  at 
(vhiehec.  They  had  saved  their  lives;  hnt  the  mis- 
sion of  Onondaga  was  a  miserahle  failure.^ 

'  On  tlio  Onondii-iii  mission,  tlie  autlioritit's  are  jNljirit'  (ie  I'lncarna- 
tinn,  l.diirs  /listdn'ijiii s,  and  /it/tiliaiis  tlis  .fc'suifrs,  Kif)?  and  lt)')8,  whiTe 
tilt'  jtory  is  told  at  len(;tli,  ncTonipanieil  with  several  interostinff  letters 
lunl  journals.     Cliainuonot,  in   his  Autuliio</ntj)/i{e,   speaks   only  of  the 


t 

t 

r 

I 

I 


THE  JESUITS  AT  ONONDAGA. 


[1658, 


M 

HI':':; 


Seneca  mission,  and  refers  to  the  Relations  for  the  rest.  Dollier  de  Cas- 
eon,  in  his  Ilistoire  du  Montreal,  mentions  the  arrival  of  the  fugitives  at 
that  plaee,  tlie  sight  of  which,  he  adds  complacently,  cured  them  of  their 
fright.  The  Journal  des  Sitpe'rieurs  des  J^siiites  chronicles  with  its  usual 
brevity  the  ruin  of  the  mission  and  the  return  of  the  party  to  Quebec. 

The  Jesuits,  in  their  account,  say  nothing  of  tlie  superstitious  ciiarac- 
ter  of  tlie  feast.  It  is  Marie  de  I'lncarnation  who  lets  out  the  secret. 
The  Jesuit  Charlevoix,  much  to  his  credit,  repeats  the  story  without 
reserve. 

The  Sulpitian  'Allet,  in  a  memoir  printed  in  the  Morale  Pratique  da 
J€suites,  says  that  the  French  placed  effigies  of  soldiers,  made  of  straw,  in 
the  fort,  to  deceive  the  Indians.  He  adds  that  the  Jesuits  found  verj 
little  sympaihy  at  Quebec. 


m 


CHAPTER   n. 


1642-1661. 


THE    HOLY   WARS    OF   MONTREAL. 

IDacveksiJire.  —  Mance  and  Bouroeoys.  —  Miracle.  —  A  Prous  De- 
faulter.— Jesuit  and  Sulpitian.  —  Montreal  in  1659.  —  The 
Hospital  Nuns.  —  The  Nuns  and  the  Iroquois.  —  More  Mir- 
acles.—  The  Murdered  Priests.  —  Brigeac  and  Closse. — 
Soldiers  of  the  Holy  Family. 

On  the  2d  of  July,  1659,  the  ship  "  St.  Andr6  " 
[lay  in  the  harbor  of  Rochelle,  crowded  with  pas- 
sengers for  Canada.     She  had  served  two  years  as 
a  hospital  for  marines,  and  was  infected  with  a 
contagious  fever.     Including  the  crew,  some  two 
hiuKhed  persons  were  on  board,  more  than  half  of 
hvLom  were  bound  for  Montreal.     Most  of  these 
Ivere  stin^dy  laborers,  artisans,  peasants,  and  sol- 
Idiers,  together  with  a  troop  of  young  women,  their 
Ipresent  or  future  partners ;  a  portion  of  the  com- 
Ipany  set  down  on  the  old  record  as  "  sixty  virtu- 
lous  men  and  thirty- two  pious  girls."     There  were 
Itwo  priests  also,  Vignal  and  Le  Maitre,  both  des- 
Itiiicd  to  a  speedy  death  at  the  hands  of  the  Iro- 
Iquois.      But  the   most  conspicuous  among   these 
|pa.ssengers  for  Moiitreal  were  two  groups  of  women 
lin  the  habit  of  nuns,  under  the  direction  of  Mar- 


if 

I 

V 


I 


V2 


THK    IIOI.Y    WAIJS   OF    MON'I'llKAL 


[\m. 


liii'j  r,7.1 


i;'uon 


loH 


<>Ur!2«M>VS  JUKI  .ICMinU 


1.1. 


M 


m('(* 


M 


in*LI.MI(M'lh> 


H 


(MirLiHM>\S,    \M1()S( 


kii)«l. 


WOMIilll 


Iv   I'l 


(('(»    l)(»S|H) 


)k(>    I 


KM- 


lihu^ss  toi-  \\\v  (jisk,  wMs  loimdn^ss  of  the  school  lor 
I'tMUJiK*  chiklrtMi  .il  IMoiilrcjil  ;  \\vv  ('omj)!mion,  n 
ImII.  :iusl(MV  lii;iir(\  worn  u  illi  sulVcriiii;'  iwul  ci\\v,^^\ 
WMs  (liiHM'ln^ss  of  ilic  Iiospilnl.  Uolli  lind  rciunicd 
to  b'l'MiU'o  for  aid,  and  wiMi*  now  on  tluMrwjix'  hack, 
OMcli  Nvilh  lluHH*  rtH'rniis.  \\\vvo  hiMnii'  tlic  nivslic 
nunilxM'.  MS  M  l\noof  lln*  llolv  l^'aniih'  to  whose 
worship  \\h'\  wcw  (^spociMlls  (K^noUmI. 

Amid  tho  hiislK^  of  (K^pjirluro,  the  shouis  of  sail- 
ors, tho  raldini;'  of  (U)r(lagi\  \\\o  flappinu;  of  sails,  Hj] 
iho  t'.^ars  and  llu*  (Mnhi-acinLrs,  an  t^ldcrlv  man,  williHTI 
luMvy  ])Ud>tMan  fi\«(un's.  sallow  with  dis<»as(\  and  in 
:i   sohor.   half-cK»ri('al   dri^ss,  ap|)roa('h(Ml    Madcnioi- 
sclU^  Manci*  and  hvv  \\uvv   nnns,  ;,nd,  tnrnini''  his 


oyos   \o   hoavon,  spread   his   hands  ovim*  lluMn   ii 


\ 


)entM 


lict 


ion. 


It  was  !a»  I\o\(M'  {\v  la   DanvorsiTM' 


founder  of  the  sislt^rhood  of  St.  Joseph,  to  wliic 
the  tin 00  nuns  hi^louiiod. 


Now,  0  r^ord,"  1 


10  ox- 


olaiiuod.  with  tho  look  of  ono  whoso  mission  on 
oarih  is  fullillod.  "  pormit  thou  thy  servant  to  do- 
part  in  ]ioaoo  !  " 

Sister  Maillot,  wlio  had  oharj^'o  of  tho  inoauiv 
treasury  of  the  oommnnitv,  thous^'ht  thr.t  sonic- 
thinir  more   than  a   bl 


ossniiT   was   ( 


lue   f 


roin   him 


and  asked  whore  she  should  apply  foi*  ])ayment  ot 
the  interest  of  the  twenty  thousand  livi'os  which 
Mademoiselle  ]\hnu*o  had  })laood  in  his  hands  lor 
inyestnient.  Dauyersiore  ohangod  oountonancc. 
and  re])lied,  with  a  troubled  yoioo  :  "  My  dauglitor, 
God  will  prbyide  for  you.     Place  your  trust  iu 


lliiii.'"  \U 
inonov  of  th( 
lc;iviii«!;  tho  II 

I  have  relji 
ion  of  <lovot 
hoMVon,  had" 
oiiy  at  Mon 
The  essential 
lo  1)0  a.  somiii 
a  hospital  to  t*" 
.K'siis ;  while 

10111  simj)ly 

lis  j)ious  pii 
1(  was  sovont 
lijid  lK\iL;'un  he 
Li'iiori'o  Hoin 
i'(>contl\'  ,  \o 
tiiro,  for  she 
time,  liowov 
opoiiod  her  s( 
tlio  stable  of 
in  I  ho  loft,  ai 
olic  Christian 
kiio\vlodi''e  a^ 
impart. 

Madomoisc 
Avork,  for  bio 
whoro  tho  wc 
moment  was 


•  ruilloii,  I7f  <) 
a  portrait  of  Diiuv 
^  Tlie  Jesuits 


llil'J    .M.J 


MANM'K   y\NI)    IM  >UI{(;i-:()VH. 


r.\ 


lliin."'        lie    NViis    hjiiiknipi,    and    Ii;n1     used    llio 
inoiicy  of  tlic  sisl(M'li(MKl  lo  [my  a  (k'l)t  of  his  own, 


('ii\  III 


^Mi 


i(»  iimis  nciimlcss 


I  liiivc  pcIiiIimI  ill  niioMicr  place ''  liow  an  assocla- 
fioii  of  (Invoices,  inspired,  as  llu'y  siip|)os<'d,  from 
licivcii,  liad  iindciiaUcn  lo  found  a  r<'li;j;ioiis  col- 
(»ii\  al  Moid  real  in  honor  of  (lie  lloly  l^'ainily. 
The  cssiMdials  of  I  he  pro|)()S(Ml  cslahlishincnl  were 

10  lie  a  seminary  of  j)ric'sts  diMhciiled  lo  ihe  Virgin, 
nhospilal  loSainl  .loscpli,  and  a  school  lot  lie  Infant, 
Jesus;  while  a,  selllenieni  was  lo  he  formed  aioiind 
dicni  simply  for  (heir  defence  and  mainlenanoe. 
This  pious  pur[)ose  had  in  pari  heen  jiccomplished. 

11  was  sevenleen  \"ears  since  Mademoiselle  Manec 
had  hcoun  herlahors  in  honor  of  Saint.loseph.  Mar- 
niiciiU'  nom'u;(M)ys  had  enlereij  u|)on  hers  moiHi 
rct'cidly  j  vet  even  then  th(^  attempt  was  prema- 
ture, for  she  found  no  whit(»  children  to  teach.  In 
tiine,  however,  this  wanf  was  supi>lied,  and  sho 
opened  her  s(diool  in  a  stahle,  which  answered  to 
tli(>  slahle  of  J^ethlehcju,  h)di;in^-  with  Ikm'  [)U|)ils 
in  die  loft,  and  instructin^i;'  them  in  Roman  Cath- 
olic Christianitv,  Avith  such  rudiments  of  mimdjinc 
kiiowledue  as  .lie  and   her  advisors  thouuht  fit  to 


uniiart. 


Mademoiselle  Manco  found  no  lacl\  of  lios])ital 

work,  for  IJood   and  blows  were  rife  at  Montreal, 

where  the  woods  were  full  of  Iro(;[uois,  and  not  a 

! moment  was  without  its  peril.     Though  years  be- 


•  Failloii,  Vic  (Jc  M'lle  Maiice,  I.  172.     This  volume  is  illustrated  with 
a  portrait  of  Dauversioro. 

-  Tlie  Jesuits  in  Nortii  Anierica.  * 


u 


THE  HOLY  WARS   OF  MONTREAL. 


11058. 


ll  Eli    'ii .  :D 


gan  to  tell  upon  licr,  she  toiled  patiently  at  lier 
dreary  task,  till,  in  the  winter  of  1657,  she  fell  on 
the  ice  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  broke  her  right  arm, 
and  dislocated  the  wrist.  Bonch?.x'd,  the  surgeon 
of  Montreal,  set  the  broken  bones,  but  did  not 
discover  the  dislocation.  The  arm  in  consequence 
became  totally  useless,  and  her  health  wasted  away 
under  incessant  and  violent  pain.  Maisonneuve, 
the  civil  and  military  chief  of  the  settlement,  ad-  S 
vised  her  to  go  to  France  for  assistance  in  the  work  H 
to  which  she  was  no  longer  equal ;  and  Marguerite  H 
Bourgeoys,  whose  pupils,  white  and  red,  had  greatly 
multiplied,  resolved  to  go  with  her  for  a  similar  ob- 
ject. They  set  out  in  September,  1658,  landed  at 
Kochelle,  and  went  thence  to  Paris.  Here  they 
rej^aired  to  the  seminary  of  St.  Sulpice ;  for  the 
priests  of  this  community  were  joined  with  them 
in  the  work  at  Montreal,  of  which  they  were  after- 
wards to  become  the  feudal  proprietors. 

Now  ensued  a  wonderfid  event,  if  we  may  trust 
the  evidence  of  sundry  devout  persons.  Olier,  the 
founder  of  St.  Sulpice,  had  lately  died,  and  the  two 
pilgrims  would  fain  pay  their  homage  to  his  heart, 
which  the  priests  of  liis  community  kept  as  a  pre- 
cious rehc,  enclosed  in  a  leaden  box.  The  box  was 
brought,  when  the  thought  inspired  Mademoiselle 
Mance  to  try  its  miraculous  efficacy  and  invoke  the 
intercession  of  the  departed  founder.  She  did  so, 
touching  her  disabled  arm  gently  with  the  leaden 
casket.  Instantly  a  grateful  warmth  pervaded  the 
shrivelled  limb,  and  from  that  hour  its  use  was 
restored.     It  is  true  that  the  Jesuits  ventured  to 


1058-59.] 


THE   UNKNOWN  BENEFACTRESS. 


45 


doubt  the  Sulpitian  miracle,  and  even  to  ridloulo 
it;  but  the  Siilpitians  -svill  show  to  this  day  the  at- 
testation of  Mademoiselle  Mance  herself,  written 
^vith  the  fingers  once  paralyzed  and  powerless.* 
Nevertheless,  the  cure  was  not  so  thorough  as  to 
permit  her  again  to  take  charge  of  her  patients. 

Iler  next  care  was  to  visit  Madame  de  Bullion, 
a  devout  lady  of  great  wealth,  who  was  usually 
designated  at  Montreal  as  "  the  unknown  benefac- 
tress," because,  though  her  charities  were  the  main- 
stay of  the  feeble  colony,  and  though  the  source 
from  which  they  proceeded  was  well  known,  she 
affected,  in  the  interest  of  humility,  the  greatest 
secrecy,  and  required  those  Avho  profited  by  her 
gifts  to  pretend  ignorance  whence  they  came. 
Overflowing  with  zeal  for  the  pious  enterprise,  she 
received  her  visitor  with  enthusiasm,  lent  an  open 
ear  to  her  recital,  responded  graciously  to  her  ap- 
peal for  aid,  and  paid  over  to  her  the  sum,  munifi- 
cent at  that  day,  of  twenty-two  thousand  francs. 
Thus  far  successful,  Mademoiselle  Mance  repaired 
to  the  town  of  La  Fleche  to  visit  Le  Royer  de  la 
Dauversiere. 

It  was  this  wretched  fanatic  who,  through  visions 
and  revelations,  had  first  conceived  the  plan  of  a 
hospital  in  honor  of  Saint  Joseph  at  Montreal.'^  He 
had  found  in  Mademoiselle  Mance  a  zealous  and 
efficient  pioneer ;  but  the  execution  of  his  scheme 
required  a  community  of  hospital  nuns,  and  there- 


k 

It!. 

r 


^  For  an  account  of  this  miracle,  written  in  perfect  good  faith  and 
Bupported  by  various  attestations,  see  Faillon.  Vie  de  M'lle  Mance,  cliap.  iv. 
-  See  The  Jesuits  in  North  America. 


lijil 


46 


THE   HOLY   WARS   OF   MONTREAL. 


[K.oO, 


mi'  iMiill 


fore  he  had  lal)orod  for  the  hist  eighteen  years  to 
form  one  at  La  Fleche,  meaning  to  despatch  its 
members  in  due  time  to  Canada.  The  time  at  length 
was  come.  Tliree  of  the  nuns  were  chosen.  Sisters 
Bresolcs,  Mace,  and  Maillet,  and  sent  under  the 
escort  of  certain  pious  gentlemen  to  Kochelle. 
Their  exit  from  La  Fleche  was  not  without  its 
ditficulties.  Dauversiere  was  in  ill  odor,  not  only 
from  the  multiplicity  of  his  debts,  but  because,  in 
his  character  of  agent  of  the  association  of  Mon- 
treal, he  had  at  various  times  sent  thither  those 
whom  his  biographer  describes  as  "  the  most  virtu- 
ous girls  to  be  found  at  La  Fleche,"  intoxicating 
them  with  religious  excitement,  and  shipping  them 
for  the  New  World  against  the  will  of  their  parents, 
It  was  noised  throuii:h  the  town  that  he  had  kid- 
napped  and  sold  them ;  and  now  the  report  spread 
abroad  that  he  was  about  to  crown  his  iniquity  by 
luring  away  three  young  nuns.  A  mob  gathered 
at  the  convent  gate,  and  the  escort  were  forced  to 
draw  their  swords  to  open  a  way  for  the  terrified 
sisters. 

Of  the  twentv-two  thousand  francs  which  she  had 
received.  Mademoiselle  Mance  kept  two  thousand 
for  immediate  needs,  and  confided  the  rest  to  the 
hands  of  Dauversiere,  who,  hard  pressed  by  his 
creditors,  used  it  to  pay  one  of  his  debts;  and 
then,  to  his  horror,  found  himself  vmable  to  replace 
it.  Racked  by  the  gout  and  tormented  by  re- 
morse, he  betook  himself  to  his  bed  in  a  state  of 
body  and  mind  truly  pitiable.  One  of  the  miracles, 
so  frequent  in  the  early  annals  of  Montreal,  was 


1C59,] 


DELAY   AND   DIFFICULTY. 


47 


vouchsafed  in  answer  to  liis  prayer,  and  he  was 
enabled  to  journey  to  Koelielle  and  hid  farewell  to 
his  nuns.  It  was  hut  a  hrief  respite ;  lie  returiu'd 
liuiiic  to  become  the  prey  of  a  host  ol"  maladies,  and 
to  (lie  at  last  a  linger^ig  and  painful  death. 

AVliile  Mademoiselle  Mance  was  gaining  recruits 
in  La  Fleche,  Marguerite  Bourgeoys  was  no  less 
successful  in  her  native  town  of  Troves,  and  she 
rejoined  her  companions  at  Hochelle,  accompanied 
by  Sisters  Chatel,  Crolo,  and  Raisin,  her  destined 
assistants  in  the  school  at  Montreal.  Meanwhile, 
the  Sulpitians  and  others  interested  in  the  pious 
enterprise,  had  spared  no  effort  to  gather  men  to 
.strengthen  the  colony,  and  young  women  to  serve 
as  their  wives ;  and  all  were  now  mustered  at 
Rochelle,  waiting  for  embarkation.  Their  wait- 
ing was  a  long  one.  Laval,  bishop  at  Qnebec,  was 
allied  to  the  Jesuits,  and  looked  on  the  colonists 
of  Montreal  with  more  than  coldness.  Sulpitian 
writers  say  that  his  agents  used  every  effort  to 
discourage  them,  and  that  certain  persons  at  Ro- 
chelle told  the  master  of  the  ship  in  which  the 
emigrants  were  to  sail  that  they  were  not  to  be 
trusted  to  pay  their  passage-money.  Hereupon 
ensued  a  delay  of  more  than  two  months  before 
means  could  be  found  to  quiet  the  scruples  of  the 
prudent  commander.  At  length  the  anchor  was 
weighed,  and  the  dreary  voyage  begun. 

The  woe-begone  company,  crowded  in  the  filthy 
and  infected  ship,  were  tossed  for  two  months  more 
on  the  relentless  sea,  buffeted  by  repeated  stonns, 
and  wasted  by  a  contagious  fever,  wdiich  attacked 


f. 

k 


I.'! 


48 


THE   HOLY   WARS   OF   MONTREAL. 


[lC59.Hl6o9.] 


nearly  all  of  them  and  rediiced  Mademoiselle  Maiice 
to  extremity.  Eight  or  ten  died  and  were  dropped 
overboard,  after  a  prayer  from  the  two  priests.  At 
length  land  hove  in  sight;  the  piny  odors  of  the 
forest  regaled  their  languid  senses  as  they  sailed 
np  the  broad  estuary  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and| 
anchored  under  the  rock  of  Quebec. 

High  aloft,  on  the  brink  of  the  cliff,  they  saw| 
the  Jf(i(r-de-Us  waving  above  the  fort  of  St.  Louis, 
and,  beyond,  the  cross  on  the  tower  of  the  cathe- 
dral traced  against  the  sky;  the  houses  of  the  mer- 
chants on  the  strand  below,  and  boats  and  canoes  I 
drawn  up  along  the  bank.     The  bishop  and  the| 
Jesuits  greeted  them  as  co-workers  in  a  holy  cause, 
with  an   unction  not  wholly  sincere.     Though  al 
unit  against  heresy,  the  pious  founders  of  NeAv| 
Frnnce  were   far  from   unity   among   themselves,  j 
To  the  thinking  of  the  Jesuits,  Montreal  was  a 
government  within  a  government,  a  wheel  within 
a  Avheel.     This  rival  Sulpitian  settlement  was,  in 
their  eyes,  an  element  of  disorganization  adverse 
to  the  disciplined  harmony  of  the  Canadian  Church, 
which  they  would  fain  have  seen,  with  its  focus  at| 
Quebec,  radiating  light  unrefracted  to  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  colony.     That  is  to  say,  tbeyj 
wished  to  control  it  unchecked,  through  their  alh', 
the  bishop. 

The  emigrants,  then,  were  received  with  a  studi- 
ous courtesy,  which  veiled  but  thinly  a  stiff  nnd 
persistent  opposition.     The  bishop  and  the  Jesuits  j 
were  especially  anxious  to  prevent  the  La  Flecho 
nuns   from  establishing   themselves   at  Montreal. 


[1659.  ■  1659.] 


MONTREAL. 


49 


hvliere  tliey  would  form  a  separate  community, 
under  Sulpitian  influence;  and,  in  place  of  the 
newly  arrived  sisters,  they  wished  to  substitute 
nuns  from  the  Hotel  Dieu  of  Quel)ec,  who  would 
be  under  their  own  control.  That  which  most 
strikes  the  non-Catholic  reader  throughout  this 
ali'air  is  the  constant  reticence  and  dissimulation 
practised,  not  only  between  Jesuits  and  Montreal- 
ists,  but  among  the  Montrealists  themselves.  Their 
self-devotion,  great  as  it  was,  was  fairly  matched 
jby  their  disingenuousness.^ 

All  diliicalties  being  overcome,  the  Montrealists 

lembarked  in  boats  and  ascended  the  St.  Lawrence, 

lleaving  Quebec  infected  with  the  contagion  they 

Iliad  brought.     The  journey  now  made  in  a  single 

Inigbt   cost    them    fifteen   days   of    hardship    and 

[danger.    At  length  they  reached  their  new  home. 

jTbe  little  settlement  lay  before  them,  still  gasping 

)etwixt  life  and  death,  in  a  puny,  precarious  in- 

lancy.      Some  fort}^   small,  compact  houses  were 

[ranged  parallel  to  the  river,  chiefly  along  the  line 

[of  what  is  now  St.  Paul's  Street.    On  the  left  there 

[was  a  fort,  and  on  a  rising  ground  at  the  riglit  a 

massive  Avindmill  of  stone,  enclosed  with  a  wall  or 

palisade  pierced  for  musketry,  and  answering  the 

purpose   of   a   redoubt   or   block-house.^      Fields, 

jbtudded  with  charred  and  blackened  stumps,  be- 


t 

I 
r 

t 


'  See,  for  exitiiiple,  cliapter  iv.  of  Faillon's  Life  of  MiKleinoi-elle 
Miince.  The  evi(  ence  is  unanswerable,  the  writer  beinj;  tlie  jmrtisan 
mil  athnirer  of  most  of  tliose  wliose  incuse  tromiwrir,  to  use  tlie  expression 
if  Ddllier  (le  Casson,  lie  (lest-ribes  in  apparent  unconsciousness  that  any- 
\)w\\  will  see  reason  to  cavil  at  it. 

2  Ltlrt  du  VicoiiUe  d'Aiyenson,  Gouverneur  du  Canada,  4  Aout,  lOGU,  MS. 


ll, 


b 


50 


THE  HOLY  WARS   OF  MONTREAL.         [IGoT-q  ■  1657-61.1 


tween  which  crops  w^ere  growing,  stretched  awaj 
to  the  edges  of  the  bordering  forest;  and  the 
green,  shaggy  back  of  the  mountain  towered 
over  all. 

There  were  at  this  time  a  hundred  and  sixty  I 
men  at  Montreal,  about  fifty  of  whom  had  families, 
or  at  least  wives.     They  greeted  the  new-comers  I 
with  a  Avelcome  which,  this  time,  was  as  sincere  m 
it  Avas  warm,  and  bestirred  themselves  with  alacritv 
to  provide  them  with  shelter  for  the  winter.     As 
for  the  three  nuns  from  La  Fleche,  a  chamber  ^vas 
hastily  made  for  them  over  two  low  rooms  wliicli 
had  served  as  Mademoiselle  Mance's  hospital.  This 
chamber  was  twenty-five  feet  square,  with  four| 
cells  for  the  nuns,  and  a  closet  for  stores  and  cloth- 
ing, which  for  the  present  was  empty,  as  they  luidl 
landed  in  such  destitution  that  they  were  forced  to 
sell  all  their  scanty  equipment  to  gain  the  bare 
necessaries  of  existence.     Little  could  be  hoped 
from  the  colonists,  who  were  scarcely  less  destitute 
than  they.     Such  was  their  poverty,  —  thanks  to 
Dauversiere's  breach  of  trust,  —  that  when  tlieiij 
clothes  were  worn  out^  they  were  unable  to  replace 
them,  and  were  forced  to  patch  them  with  sucli| 
material  as  came  to  hand.     Maisonneuve,  the  iiov- 
ernor,  and  the  pious  Madame  d'Aillebout,  bciiigl 
once  on  a  visit  to  the  hospital,  amused  themselvesi 
with  trying  to  guess  of  what  stuff  the  habits  of  the 
nuns  had  originally  been  made,  and  were  uniiljle| 
to  agree  on  the  point  in  question.^ 

1  Anudlcs  dps  TTospilalieres  de   Vlllevutn'p,  jxir  la  Sd'iir  Morin,  a  conj 
tempomry  record,  from  which  Faillon  gives  louy  extracts. 


Their  cha 
years,  being 
in  the  piercir 
I  countless  era 
sifted  throu^ 
I  sometimes  o 
!  remove  it  wi 
j  on  tlie  table 
bread  had  tc 
could  cut  it. 
'ease,  if  not 
Bresoles,  had 
jfessor,  run  a 
to  her,  and  ii 
i  them  in  a2:on 
acted  as  supe 
I  her  nuns  rec 
devotion  lor 
many  more 
so  transcendc 
small  piece  o 
make  soup  oi 
was  charged 
whose  wants 
too,  had  bee 
the  sisterhoc 
without ;    th 
entered  the 
hardship,  anc 

»  "  C'etait  par 
secrets  et  d'autre 
annalist,  Faillon. 


1657-61.1 


SISTER  MAC:fc. 


51 


Their  chamber,  which  they  occupied  for  many 
years,  being  hiistily  built  of  ill-seasoned  planks,  let 
I  in  the  piercing  cold  of  the  Canadian  winter  through 
I  countless  cracks  and  chinks ;  and  the  driving  snow 
sifted  through  in  such  quantities  that  they  were 
sometimes  obliged,  the  morning  after  a  storm,  to 
remove  it  with  shovels.  Their  food  would  freeze 
on  the  table  before  them,  and  their  coarse  brown 
l)road  had  to  be  thawed  on  the  hearth  before  they 
could  cut  it.  These  women  had  been  nurtured  in 
ease,  if  not  in  luxury.  One  of  them,  Judith  de 
Brcsoles,  had  in  her  youth,  by  advice  of  her  con- 
fessor, run  away  from  parents  who  were  devoted 
to  her,  and  immured  herself  in  a  convent,  leaving 
them  in  agonies  of  doubt  as  to  her  fate.  She  now 
acted  as  superior  of  the  little  community.  One  of 
her  nuns  records  of  her  that  she  had  a  fervent 
devotion  lor  the  Infant  Jesus ;  and  that,  along  with 
many  more  spiritual  graces,  he  inspired  her  Avith 
so  transcendent  a  skill  in  cookery,  that  "  with  a 
small  piece  of  lean  pork  and  a  few  herbs  she  could 
make  soup  of  a  marvellous  relish."^  Sister  Mace 
was  charged  with  the  care  of  the  pigs  and  hens,  to 
whose  wants  she  attended  in  person,  though  she, 
too,  had  been  delicately  bred.  In  course  of  time, 
the  sisterhood  was  increased  by  additions  from 
without ;  though  more  than  twenty  girls  who 
entered  the  hospital  as  novices  recoiled  from  the 
hardship,  and  took  husbands  in  the  colony.   Among 


I 

K 
f 


'  "  C'ctait  par  son  recours  k  TKrifant  Jesus  qu'elle  trouvait  tons  ces 
secrets  et  d'autres  semlilables,"  writes  in  our  own  day  tlie  excellent 
annalist,  Faillon. 


m 


62 


THE  HOLY  WARS   OF  MONTREAL.  [1G57-G1.  ■  |g5;_oi.] 


I 


mwi 


;<i  ii 


a  few  who  took  the  vows,  Sister  Jumeau  should 
not  pass  unnoticed.  Such  was  her  humility,  that. 
though  of  a  good  family  and  unable  to  divest  her- 
self of  the  marks  of  good  breeding,  she  pretended 
to  be  the  daughter  of  a  poor  peasant,  and  per- 
sisted in  repeating  the  pious  falsehood  till  tliu 
merchant  Le  Ber  told  her  flatly  that  he  did  not 
believe  her. 

The  sisters  had  great  need  of  a  man  to  do  the 
heavy  work  of  the  house  and  garden,  but  found  no 
means  of  hiring  one,  when  an  incident,  in  which 
they  saw  a  special  providence,  excellently  supplied 
the  want.  There  was  a  poor  colonist  named  Jouan- 
eaux  to  whom  a  piece  of  land  had  been  given  at 
some  distance  from  the  settlement.  Had  he  built 
p  cabin  upon  it,  his  scalp  would  soon  have  paid  the 
forfeit ;  but,  being  bold  and  hardy,  he  devised  a 
plan  by  which  he  might  hope  to  sleep  in  safety 
without  abandoning'  the  farm  which  was  his  oiilv 
possession.  Among  the  stumps  of  his  clearing  there 
was  one  hollow  with  a^-e.  Under  this  he  dui"'  a 
sort  of  cave,  the  entrance  of  which  was  a  small  hole 
carefully  hidden  by  brushwood.  The  hollow  stump 
was  easily  converted  into  a  chimney ;  and  by  creep- 1 
ing  into  his  burrow  at  night,  or  when  he  saw  sigii5 
of  danger,  he  escaped  for  some  time  the  notice  of| 
the  Iroquois.  But,  though  he  could  dispense  witli 
a  house,  he  needed  a  barn  for  his  hay  and  corn; 
and  while  he  was  building  one,  he  fell  from  the 
ridge  of  the  roof  and  Avas  seriously  hurt.  He  was 
carried  to  the  Hotel  Dieu,  where  the  nuns  showed 
him  every  attention,  until,  after  a  long  confinement, 


lie  at  last  ree 
and  enthusias 
the  kindness  < 
the  spectacle  ^ 
wish  of  devot 
end  a  contract 
himself  to  wo 
I  mained ;  and 
tain  him  in  s 
This  stout-1 
though,  had 
I  would  have  b( 
Montreal  was ; 
was  as  much 
would  skulk  a^ 
in  a  camp  of 
though  the  In 
ably  the  bole 
More  than  oni 
known  to  hav 
of  wild  musti 
hoping  that 
reach  of  his  t( 
rarely  passer 
sight  of  their 
lambushed  ma 
Iketry,  would 
land  promise 
patients.    On 
[according  to 
[who  had  joii 
their  arrival, 


I  ; 


[1057-01,  ■  1657-01.] 


PERIL  OF  THE  NUNS. 


53 


he  at  last  recovered.  Being  of  a  grateful  nature 
and  enthusiastically  devout,  he  was  so  touched  by 
the  kindness  of  his  benefactors,  and  so  moved  by 
the  spectacle  of  their  piety,  that  he  conceived  the 
wish  of  devoting  his  life  to  their  service.  To  this 
011(1  a  contract  was  drawn  up,  hy  wliicli  he  pledged 
himself  to  work  for  them  as  long  as  strength  re- 
mained ;  and  they,  on  their  part,  agreed  to  main- 
tain him  in  sickness  or  old  age. 

This  stout-hearted  retainer  proved  invaluable ; 
though,  had  a  guard  of  soldiers  ^^een  added,  it 
would  have  been  no  more  than  the  case  demanded. 
Montreal  was  not  palisaded,  and  at  first  the  hospital 
was  as  much  exposed  as  the  rest.  The  Iroquois 
would  skulk  at  night  among  the  houses,  like  wolves 
in  a  camp  of  sleeping  travellers  on  the  prairies ; 
though  the  human  foe  was,  of  the  two,  incompar- 
ably the  bolder,  fiercer,  and  more  bloodthirsty. 
More  th.in  once  one  of  these  prowling  savages  was 
known  to  have  crouched  all  niu;ht  in  a  rank  i2:rowth 
of  wild  mustard  in  the  garden  of  the  nuns,  vainly 
hoping  that  one  of  them  would  come  out  within 
reach  of  his  tomahawk.  During  summer,  a  month 
rarely  passed  without  a  fight,  sometimes  within 
sig'lit  of  their  A^^ndows.  A  burst  of  yells  from  the 
aml)iished  marksmen,  followed  by  a  clatter  of  mus- 
;|ketry,  would  announce  the  opening  of  the  fray, 
|an(I  promise  the  nuns  an  addition  to  their  list  of 
^n  these  occasions  they  bore  themselves 
acoordino"  to  their  several  natures.     Sister  Morin, 


o 


6; 
* 

I 


«1 


hvho  had  joined  their  number  three  years  after 
Itheir  arrival,  relates  that  Sister  Br^isoles  and  she 


54 


THE   HOLY   WARS   OF  MONTREAL.         [1657-61,  ^B  16^7-61.1 


!>'    i| 


iiii'^li 


used  to  run  to  the  belfry  and  ring  the  tocsin  to 
call  the  inhabitants  together.  "  From  our  liigli 
station,"  she  writes,  "  we  could  sometimes  see  the 
combat,  which  terrified  us  extremely,  so  that  we 
came  down  again  as  soon  as  we  could,  trembling  | 
with  fright,  and  thinking  that  our  last  hour  wa<  I 
come.  When  the  tocsin  sounded,  my  Sister  Maillet| 
would  become  faint  with  excess  of  fear ;  and  mv 
Sister  Mace,  as  long  as  the  alarm  continued,  woulfl 
remain  speechless,  in  a  state  pitiable  to  see.  Tliev 
would  both  get  into  a  corner  of  the  rood-loft,  before 
the  Holy  Sacrament,  so  as  to  be  prepared  for  death; 
or  else  go  into  their  cells.  As  soon  as  I  heard  that 
the  Iroquois  were  gone,  I  went  to  tell  them,  wliicL 
comforted  them  and  seemed  to  restore  them  to  life, 
My  Sister  Bresoles  was  stronger  and  more  coura- 
geous ;  her  terror,  which  she  could  not  help,  did  not 
prevent  her  from  attending  the  sick  and  receiving 
the  dead  and  wounded  who  were  brought  in." 

The  priests  of  St.  Sulpice,  who  had  assumed  the 
entire  spiritual  charge  of  the  settlement,  and  who 
were  soon  to  assume  its  entire  temporal  charge 
also,  had  for  some  years  no  other  lodging  than  al 
room  at  the  hospital,  adjoining  those  of  the  patient>,j 
They  caused  the  building  to  be  fortified  with  pali- 
sades, and  the  houses  of  some  of  the  chief  inhabi- 
tants were  placed  near  it,  for  mutual  defence.  Tliov 
also  built  two  fortified  houses,  called  Ste.  Marie  aii(i| 
St.  Gabriel,  at  the  two  extremities  of  the  settle- 
ment, and  lodged  in  them  a  considerable  nunibeij 
of  armed  men,  whom  they  employed  in  cleariiid 
and  cultivating  the  surrounding  lands,  the  property 


of  their  co 
were  also  -p 
Kvell  as  the 
permit.     Tl 
the  field,  an 
incidents  wi' 
character  of 
lu  the  aui 
the  Iroquois 
them  came 
Jean  Saint-I 
la  vino-  thatci 
arquebuse  a 
ground  like 
■  sued  a  prodi: 
his  head  and 
amazed  to  h^ 
scold  them 
with  the   ve 
tinned  to  h 
scalping  it 
story,  circul 
thority  of  tl 
I  among  the  n 

Another 
Hater,  deserv 
the  two  prie 
Madenioisellt 
the  fortified 
hdjoi'ers,  in 
work.    In  vi 

1  Dollie 


1 


\-''k 


[1657-61.  ^■16^"-^1-1 


PRODIGIES. 


55 


lOur  wa> 


of  tlieir  community.  All  other  outlying  houses 
were  also  pierced  with  loopholes,  and  fortified  as 
well  as  the  slender  means  of  their  owners  would 
permit.  The  laborers  always  carried  their  guns  to 
the  field,  and  often  had  need  to  use  them.  A  few 
incidents  will  show  the  state  of  Montreal  and  the 
clia meter  of  its  tenants. 

Ill  the  autumn  of  1657  there  was  a  truce  with 
the  Iroquois,  under  cover  of  which  three  or  four  of 
them  came  to  the  settlement.  Nicolas  Gode  and 
Jean  Saint-Pere  were  on  the  roof  of  their  house, 
laving  thatch ;  when  one  of  the  visitors  aimed  his 
arqueljLise  at  Saint-Pere,  and  brought  him  to  the 
ground  like  a  wild  turkey  from  a  tree.  Now  en- 
sued a  prodigy ;  lor  the  assassins,  having  cut  off 
his  head  and  carried  it  home  to  their  village,  were 
amazed  to  hear  it  speak  to  them  m  good  Iroquois, 
scold  them  for  their  perf.dy,  and  threaten  them 
with  the  vengeance  of  Heaven  ;  and  they  con- 
tinued to  hear  its  voice  of  admonition  even  after 
scalping  it  and  throwing  aw\ay  the  skull.*  This 
story,  circulated  at  Montreal  on  the  alleged  au- 
thority of  the  Indians  themselves,  found  believers 
among  the  most  intelligent  men  of  the  colony. 

Another  miracle,  which  occurred  several  years 
I  later,  deserves  to  be  recorded.  Le  Maitre,  one  of 
the  two  priests  who  liad  sailed  from  France  Avith 
Mademoiselle  Mance  and  her  nuns,  being  one  day  at 
the  fortified  house  of  St.  Gabriel,  went  out  witli  the 
lahorers,  in  order  to  watch  wdiile  they  were  at  their 
work.    In  view  of  a  possible  enemy,  he  had  girded 

1  DoUier  de  Cassoii,  Ilistoire  du  Montreal,  1057,  IG08. 


66 


THE   HOLY  WARS   OF   MONTREAL.         [1657-01, 


hmm 


himself  with  an  earthly  sword ;  but  seeing  no  sicrn 
of  danger,  he  presently  took  out  his  breviary,  niid. 
while  reciting  his  office  with  eyes  bent  on  the 
page,  walked  into  an  ambuscade  of  Iroquois,  who 
rose  before  him  with  a  yell. 

He  shouted  to  the  laborers,  and,  drawing  hi< 
sword,  faced  the  whole  savage  crew,  in  order,  prob- 
ably, to  'i^  0  die  men  time  to  snatch  their  gum. 
Afraid  i  .  .pi  -oach,  the  Iroquois  fired  and  killed 
him ;  then  rusiic  1  upon  the  working  party,  who 
escajied  into  the  house,  after  losing  several  of  their 
number.  The  victors  cut  off  the  head  of  tlie 
heroic  priest,  and  tied  it  in  a  white  handkerchief 
which  they  took  from  a  pocket  of  his  cassock.  It 
is  said  that  on  reaching  their  villages  they  were 
astonished  to  find  the  handkerchief  without  the 
slightest  stain  of  blood,  but  stamped  indelibly  with 
the  features  of  its  late  owner,  so  plainly  marked 
that  none  who  had  known  him  could  fail  to  recotf- 
nize  tliem.^  This  not  very  original  miracle,  though 
it  found  eager  credence  at  Montreal,  was  received 
coolly,  like  other  Montreal  miracles,  at  Quebec ; 
and  Sulpitian  writers  complain  that  the  bishop,  in 
a  long  letter  which  he  wrote  to  the  Pope,  made  no 
mention  of  it  whatever. 

Le  Maitre,  on  the  voyage  to  Canada,  had  been 
accompanied  hy  another  priest,  Guillaume  de 
Yignal,  who  met  a  fate  more  deplorable  than  that 
of  his  companion,  though  unattended  by  any  re- 

1  This  story  is  told  by  Sistor  Morin,  Marguerite  Bourgeoys,  and 
Dollier  do  Casson,  on  the  authority  of  one  Lavigne,  then  a  prisoner 
among  tlie  Iroquois,  who  dech-ired  that  he  liad  seen  the  handkerchief  in 
tlie  liands  of  the  returning  warriors. 


[lG57-r,i,  H  10.-.7-G1.] 


DEATH  OF  VIGNAL. 


57 


corded  miracle.  Le  Maitre  had  been  killed  in 
August.  In  the  Ociober  following,  Vignal  went 
with  thirteen  men,  in  a  flat-boat  and  several  canoes, 
to  Isle  a  la  Pierre,  nearly  op])o.site  Montreal,  to  get 
stone  for  the  seminary  which  the  priests  had  i-e- 
ccntly  begun  to  build.  With  him  was  a  pious  and 
valiant  gentleman  named  Claude  de  Brigeac,  Avho, 
though  but  thirty  years  of  age,  had  come  as  a  sol- 
dier to  Montreal,  in  the  hope  of  dying  in  defence 
of  the  true  church,  and  thus  reaping  the  rcAvard 
of  a  martyr.  Vignsd  and  three  or  four  men  had 
scarcely  landed  when  they  were  set  upon  by  •■. 
large  band  of  Iroquois  who  lay  among  the  busli  s 
waiting  to  receive  them.  The  rest  of  the  party, 
who  were  still  in  their  boats,  with  a  cowardice  rar^. 
at  Montrea!,  thought  only  of  saving  thcmse  es. 
Claude  de  Brigeac  alone  leaped  ashore  and  ran 
to  aid  his  comrades.  A'ignal  was  soon  mortally 
wounded.  Brigeac  shot  the  chief  dead  with  his 
arquebuse,,  and  then,  pistol  in  hand,  held  the  whole 
troop  for  an  instant  at  bay ;  but  his  arm  was  shat- 
tered by  a  gun-shot,  and  he  was  seized,  along  with 
Yignal,  Rene  Cuillerier,  and  Jacques  Dufresne. 
Crossing  to  the  main  shore,  inmiediately  opposite 
Montreal,  the  Iroquois  made,  after  their  custom,  a 
small  fort  of  logs  and  branches,  in  which  they  en- 
sconced themselves,  and  then  began  to  dress  the 
wounds  of  their  prisoners.  Seeing  tliat  Vignal  was 
imable  to  make  the  journey  to  their  villages,  they 
killed  him,  divided  his  flesh,  and  roasted  it  for  food. 
Brigeac  and  his  fellows  in  misfortune  spent  a 
woful  night  in  this  den  of  wolves;    and  in  the 


6T 

ft 


ii 
t 


58 


THE   HOLY  WARS   OF  MONTREAL. 


[IGoT-Gl, 


morning  their  captors,  having  hrcakfasted  on  the 
remains  of  Vignal,  took  up  their  liomeward  maivh. 
dragging  the  Frenchmen  with  them.  On  reacbinn 
Oneida,  Brigeac  was  tortured  to  death  with  the 
customary  atrocities.  Cuillerier,  who  was  present, 
dechired  that  they  could  wring  from  him  no  cry  of 
pain,  l3iit  that  throughout  he  ceased  not  to  pra}'  for 
their  conversion.  The  witness  himself  expected  tla' 
same  fate,  but  an  old  squaw  happily  adopted  him. 
and  thus  saved  his  life.  He  eventually  escaped  to 
Albany,  and  returned  to  Canada  by  the  circuitous 
but  comparatively  safe  route  of  New  York  and 
Boston. 

In  the  following  winter,  Montreal  suffered  an 
irreparable  loss  in  the  death  of  the  brave  Major 
Closse,  a  man  whose  intrepid  coolness  was  never 
known  to  fail  in  the  direst  emergency.  Going  to 
the  aid  of  a  party  of  laborers  attacked  by  the  Iro- 
quois, he  was  met  by  a  crowd  of  savages,  eager  to 
Idll  or  capture  him.  His  servant  ran  off.  He 
snapped  a  pistol  at  the  foremost  assailant,  but  it 
missed  fire.  His  remaining  pistol  served  him  no 
better,  and  he  was  instantly  shot  down.  ^'  lie 
died,"  writes  DoUier  de  Casson,  "  like  a  brave  sol- 
dier of  Christ  and  the  king."  Some  of  his  friends 
once  remonstrating  with  him  on  the  temerity  with 
which  he  exposed  his  life,  he  replied,  "  Messieurs, 
I  came  here  only  to  die  in  the  service  of  God  ;  and 
if  I  thought  I  could  not  die  here,  I  would  leave 
this  country  to  fight  the  Turks,  that  I  might  not 
be  deprived  of  such  a  glory."  ^ 

1  DoUier  de  Casson,  Ilistoire  du  Montreal,  1661,  1662. 


1057-^)1.] 


A  YEAR  OF  DISASTER. 


59 


The  fortified  house  of  Ste.  Marie,  belonging  to 
the  priests  of  St.  Sulpice,  wiis  the  scene  of  several 
hot  and  bloody  fights.  Here,  too,  occurred  the 
following  nocturnal  adventure.  A  man  named 
Ltivigne,  who  had  lately  returned  from  captivity 
among  the  Iroquois,  chancing  to  rise  at  night  and 
look  out  of  the  window,  saw  by  the  bright  moon- 
light a  number  of  naked  warriors  stealthily  gliding 
round  a  corner  and  crouching  near  the  door,  in 
order  to  kill  the  first  Frenchman  who  should  go 
out  in  the  morning.  He  silently  woke  his  com- 
rades ;  and,  having  the  rest  of  the  night  for  con- 
sultation, they  arranged  their  plan  so  well,  that 
some  of  them,  sallying  from  the  rear  of  the  house, 
cauie  cautiously  round  u2)on  the  Iroquois,  placed 
them  between  two  fires,  and  captured  them  all. 

The  summer  of  1661  was  marked  by  a  series  of 
calamities  scarcely  paralleled  even  in  the  ann.als 
of  this  disastrous  epoch.  Early  in  February,  tliir- 
teen  colonists  were  surprised  and  captured ;  next 
came  a  fight  between  a  large  band  of  laborers  and 
two  hundred  and  sixty  Iroc^uois ;  in  the  following 
month,  ten  more  Frenchmen  were  killed  or  taken  ; 
and  thenceforth,  till  winter  closed,  the  settlement 
had  scarcely  a  breathing  space.  "  These  hobgob- 
lins," writes  the  author  of  the  Ilelation  of  this  yeir, 
'^  sometimes  appeared  at  the  edge  of  the  woods, 
assailing  us  with  abuse  :  sometimes  they  glided 
stealthily  into  the  midst  of  the  fields,  to  surprise 
the  men  at  work ;  sometimes  they  a])proached 
the  houses,  harassing  us  without  ceasing,  and, 
like  importunate  harpies  or  birds  of  prey,  swoop- 


ii 

e 
r 

t 

if 


60 


THE   HOLY  WARS   OF   MONTREAL 


[lC57-q, 


:S:i 


inf^  down  on  us  whenever  tliej  could  t.'d^e  us 
unawares."  ' 

8pe<Mkin<^  of  the  disasters  of  tliis  year,  the  sol- 
dier-priest, Dollier  de  Casson,  writes:  "  God,  ^vllO 
afllicts  the  hody  only  for  the  good  of  the  soul, 
made  a  marvellous  use  of  these  calamities  and  tc'v- 
rors  to  hold  the  people  firm  in  their  duty  towards 
Heaven.  Vice  was  then  almost  unknown  here,  and 
in  the  midst  of  war  religion  flourished  on  all  sides  in 
a  manner  very  different  from  what  we  now  see  In 
time  of  peace."  ^ 

The  war  was,  in  fact,  a  war  of  religion.  The 
small  redouljts  of  logs,  scattered  ahout  the  skirts 
of  the  settlement  to  serve  as  points  of  defence  in 
case  of  attack,  bore  the  names  of  saints,  to  whose 
care  they  were  commended.  There  was  one  placed 
under  a  higher  protection  and  called  the  Bedoiibt 
of  the  Infant  Jesus.  Chomedey  de  Maisonneuve, 
the  pious  and  valiant  governor  of  Montreal,  to 
whom  its  successful  defence  is  largely  due,  re- 
solved, in  view  of  the  increasing  fury  and  persi.^t- 
ency  of  the  Iroquois  attacks,  to  form  among  the 
inhabitants  a  military  iraternity,  to  be  called 
"Soldiers  of  the  Holy  Family  of  Jesus,  Mary,  and 
Joseph ; "  and  to  this  end  he  issued  a  proclama- 
tion, of  which  the  following  is  the  characteristic 
beginning :  — 

"  We,  Paul  de  Chomedey,  governor  of  the  island 
of  Montreal  and  lands  thereon  dependent,  on  in- 
formation given  us  from  divers  quarters  that  the 

1  Le  Jeune,  Relation,  1661,  p.  3  (ed.  1858). 

2  Uistoire  du  Montreal,  1660,  1661. 


[1C57-61, 


16:7-01.1 


A  HOLY   WAR. 


CI 


[ike 


m 


he  sol- 
)(1,  ^vllO 
e  soul. 
11(1  1  cr- 
own I'd  > 
TC,  aiul 
4(les  in  ^ 
•  see  in 

I.  Tlin 
3  skirts 
3nce  in 
I  whose 
)  pL^ced 
ledouht 
ineuve, 
real,  to 
lie,  re- 
persi.st- 
)ng  the 
called 
vy,  and 
oclamii- 
3teristic 

e  is 
,  on  ill- 
hat  the 


Inxpiois  have  formed  the  design  of  seizing  upon 
this  settlement  by  surprise  or  i'orce,  have  thought 
it  our  duty,  seeing  that  this  island  is  the  i)roperty 
of  the  Holy  Virgin,*  to  invite  and  exhort  those 
zealous  for  her  service  to  unite  together  by  squads, 
each  of  seven  persons;  and  after  choosing  a  cor- 
poral by  a  plurality  of  voices,  to  report  themselves 
to  us  for  enrolment  in  our  garrison,  and,  in  this 
ca})iicity,  to  obey  our  orders,  to  the  end  that  the 
country  may  be  saved." 

Twenty  squads,  numbering  in  all  one  hundred 
and  forty  men,  whose  names,  appended  to  the 
proclamation,  may  still  be  seen  on  the  ancient 
records  of  Montreal,  answered  the  appeal  and  en- 
rolled themselves  in  the  holy  cause. 

The  whole  settlement  was  in  a  state  of  religious 
exaltation.  As  the  Iroquois  were  regarded  as  actual 
myrinidon^s  of  Satan  in  his  malign  warfare  against 
Mary  and  her  divine  Son,  those  who  died  in  fight- 
ing them  were  held  to  merit  the  reward  of  martys, 
assured  of  a  seat  in  paradise. 

And  now  it  remains  to  record  one  of  the  most 
heroic  feats  of  arms  ever  achieved  on  this  continent. 
That  it  may  be  rated  as  it  merits,  it  will  be  well  to 
glance  for  a  moment  at  the  condition  of  Canada, 
under  the  portentous  cloud  of  war  wliicli  constantly 
overshadowed  ii.^ 


1  Tliis  is  no  figure  of  speech.  The  Associates  of  Montreal,  after 
receiving  a  grant  of  the  island  from  Jean  de  Lausoii,  phico(i  it  under  the 
protection  of  the  Virgin,  and  formally  declared  her  to  be  the  i)r()i)rietor 
of  it  from  that  day  forth  for  ever. 

-  In  all  tliat  relates  to  Montreal,  I  cannot  be  sufficiently  grateful  to 
the  Abbe  Faillon,  the  indefatigable,  patient,  conscientious  chronicler  of  its 


f' 


t 


iiii 


62 


THE  HOLY  WARS  OF  MONTREAL.         [1657-01. 


early  history ;  an  ardent  and  prejudiced  Sulpitian,  a  priest  who  three 
centuries  ago  would  have  passed  for  credulous,  and,  withal,  a  kind- 
hearted  and  estimable  man.  His  numerous  books  on  his  favorite 
theme,  with  the  vast  and  heterogeneous  mass  of  facts  which  tlipy 
embody,  are  invaluable,  provided  their  partisan  character  be  well  kept 
in  mind.  His  r'  oeiu  death  leaves  his  principal  work  unfinislied.  His 
Ilistoire  de  la  Colvnie  Fran(;a!se  en  Canada  —  it  might  more  fitly  be  called 
Histoire  du  Montreal  —  is  unhappily  little  more  than  half  complete. 


Suffering  AND  T 
—  The  thhea 
Advent cuKRS 
Defence.  —  A 


CHAPTER    m. 

1660,  1661. 

THE  HEROES  OF  THE  LONG  SAUT. 

Suffering  AND  Terror.  —  Francois  Hertel.  —  The  Captive  Wolf. 
—  The  threatened  Invasion.  —  Daulac  des  Ormeaux.  —  The 
Adventurers  at  the  Long  Saut. —  The  Attack. — A  Desperate 
Defence.  —  A  Final  Assault.  —  The  Fort  taken. 


Canada  had  writhed  for  twenty  years,  with  httle 
res^pite,  under  the  scourge  of  Iroquois  war.  During 
a  great  part  of  this  dark  period  the  entire  French 
population  was  less  than  three  thousand.  What, 
then,  saved  them  from  destruction  ?  In  the  first 
])lace,  the  settlements  were  grouped  around  three 
loitificd  posts,  Quebec,  Three  Rivers,  and  Montreal, 
Avhicli  in  time  of  danger  gave  asylum  to  the  fugi- 
tive inhabitants.  Again,  their  assailants  were  con- 
tinually distracted  by  other  wars,  and  never,  except 
at  a  few  spasmodic  intervals,  were  fully  in  earnest 
to  destroy  the  French  colony.  Canada  was  indis- 
pensable to  them.  The  four  upper  nations  of  the 
league  soon  became  dependent  on  her  for  supplies; 
and  all  the  nations  alike  appear,  at  a  very  early 
period,  to  have  conceived  the  policy  on  which  they 
afterwards  distinctly  acted,  of  balancing  the  rival 
settlements  of  the  Hudson  and  the  St.  Lawrence, 


it 

ft. 

tt-: 


ft 

i 


64 


THE  HEROES   OF  THE  LONG   SAUT.        [1600-61, 


16.58] 


tlie  one  against  the  other.  They  would  torture,  ])ut 
not  kill.  It  was  but  rarely  that,  in  fits  of  fury,  they 
struck  their  hatchets  at  the  brain  ;  and  thus  the 
bleeding  and.  gasping  colony  lingered  on  in  torment, 

The  seneschal  of  New  France,  son  of  the  gov- 
ernor Lauson,  was  surprised  and  killed  on  the  islam] 
of  Orleans,  along  with  seven  companions.  About 
the  same  time,  the  same  fate  befell  the  son  of 
Godefi'oy,  one  of  the  chief  inhabitants  of  Queljoc. 
Outside  the  fortifications  there  was  no  safety  for 
a  moment.  A  universal  terror  seized  the  people.  A 
comet  appeared  above  Quebec,  and  they  saw  in  it 
a  herald  of  destruction.  Their  excited  imagina- 
tions turned  natural  phenomena  into  portents  and 
prodigies.  A  blazing  canoe  sailed  across  the  sky; 
confused  cries  and  lamentations  were  heard  in  the 
air ;  and  a  voice  of  thunder  sounded  from  miJ- 
heaven.^  TJie  Jesuits  despaired  for  their  scattered 
and  persecuted  flocks.  "•  Everywhere,"  Avrites  their 
superior,  ''  we  see  infants  to  be  saved  for  heaven, 
sick  and  dying  to  be  baptized,  adults  to  be  instructed, 
but  everywhere  we  see  the  Iroquois.  They  haunt 
us  like  ])erseeutiiig  goblins.  They  kill  our  new- 
made  Cliristians  in  our  arms.  If  they  meet  us  on 
the  river,  they  kill  us.  If  they  find  us  in  the 
huts  of  our  Indians,  they  burn  us  and  them  to- 
gether." '^  And  he  appeals  urgently  for  troops  to 
destroy  them,  as  a  holy  work  inspired  by  God,  and 
needful  for  his  service. 

Canada  was  still  a  mission,  and  the  influence;  of 

1  Mario  do  I'liicarnation,  Lctire,  Sept.,  1661. 

2  lieiution,  1660  (anonymous),  3. 


the   church 
Quebec,  as  at 
was  roii'arded 
the  settlers'  c 
and  below  Ql 
iron  camion,  i 
colon V ;   but 
eiicli  was  an 
saint,  and  ev 
before  the  sh 
tial  hand  in  1 
farm. 

When,  in  t 
conite  d'Arge 
task  of  goveri 
at  its  height, 
wasliinu;  his  h 
'.n  the  hall  of 
alarm  were  Ik 
were  close  at 
theii-  war-wh( 
could  plainly 
and,  with  such 
moment,  hast( 
were  too  nim 
jilt  that  time  a 
[athick  and  in 
I'ienee,  he  wrc 
I  He  adds  that, 
[vest,  and  the 
I  settlers,  the  c 
liundred  men 


16.38] 


ARGENSON. 


65 


the  cliurcli  was  paramount  and  pervading.  At 
Qiiehec,  as  at  Montreal,  the  war  with  the  Iroquois 
was  re^iurded  as  a  Avar  with  the  hosts  of  Satan.  Of 
the  settlers'  cabins  scattered  along  tlie  shores  above 
and  below  Quebec,  many  were  provided  with  small 
iron  cannon,  made  probably  by  blacksmiths  in  the 
colony ;  but  they  had  also  other  protectors.  In 
each  was  an  image  of  the  Virgin  or  some  patron 
saint,  and  every  morning  the  pious  settler  knelt 
before  the  shrine  to  beg  the  protection  of  a  celes- 
tial hand  in  his  perilous  labors  of  the  forest  or  the 
farm. 

Wh(Mi,  in  the  summer  of  1658,  the  young  Yi- 
comte  d'Argenson  came  to  assume  the  thankless 
tusk  of  governing  the  colony,  the  Iroquois  war  was 
at  its  height.  On  the  day  after  his  arrival,  he  was 
washing  his  hands  before  seating  himself  at  dinner 
Ji  the  hall  of  the  Chateau  St.  Louis,  when  cries  of 
alarm  were  heard,  and  he  was  told  that  the  Iroquois 
were  close  at  hand.  In  fact,  they  were  so  near  that 
their  war-whoops  and  the  screams  of  their  victims 
could  plainly  be  heard.  Argenson  left  his  guests, 
and,  with  such  a  following  as  he  couhl  muster  at  the 
iiionient, hastened  to  the  rescue;  but  the  assailants 
were  too  nimble  for  hiui.  The  forests,  which  grew 
at  that  time  around  (iuel)ec,  favored  them  both  in 
! attack  and  in  retreat.  After  a  year  or  two  of  expe- 
rience, he  wrote  urgently  to  the  court  for  troops, 
[lie  adds  thjit,  what  with  the  demands  of  the  har- 
vest, and  the  unuulitary  character  of  many  of  the 
settlers,  the  coh)ny  could  not  furnish  more  than  a 
liundred  men  for  offensive  operations.    A  vigorous 


A. 
t, 

i. 

» 

t 
k 


66 


THE  HEROES  OF  THE  LONG  SAUT. 


[iOtil. 


aggressive  war,  lie  insists,  is  absolute;}"  nece^'sjirj. 
and  this  not  only  to  save  the  coloh}',  bur  lo  nivp  | 
the  only  true  faith;  "for,"  to  borrow  his  own  words, 
"  it  is  this  colony  alone  which  has  the  honor  to  be 
in  the  communion  of  the  Holy  Church.  Every- 
where else  reigns  the  doctrine  of  England  or  Hol- 
land, to  which  I  can  give  no  other  name,  becaii>;: 
there  are  as  many  creeds  as  there  are  subjects  who 
emln-ace  them.  They  do  not  care  in  the  least 
whether  the  Ir  ^uois  and  the  other  savages  of  this 
country  have  or  have  not  a  knowledge  of  the  true 
God,  or  else  they  are  so  malicious  as  to  inject  the 
venom  of  their  errors  into  souls  incapable  of  dis- 
tinguishing the  truth  of  the  gospel  from  the  false- 
hoods of  heresy  ;  and  hence  it  is  plain  that  religion 
has  its  sole  support  in  the  French  colony,  and  that, 
if  this  colony  is  in  dan'^er,  religion  is  equally  in 
danger."  ^  * 

Amouf]^  the  most  interestin<]r  memorijds  of  the  tirae 
are  two  letters,  written  by  Fran^'ois  Hertel,  a  youtli 
of  eighteen,  cai^tured  ai  J  hree  Rivers,  and  carriiu 
to  the  jMohawk  towns  in  tiie  sunnner  of  1G61.  \h\ 
belonii:ed  to  one  of  the  best  families  of  Canada,  ami 
was  the  favorite  child  of  his  mother,  to  whom  \m 
second  of  the  two  letters  is  iuldressed.  The  lirst 
is  to  the  Jesuit  Le  Moyne,  who  had  gone  to  Onon- 
daga, in  July  of  that  year,  to  elfect  the  releasel 
of  French  prisoners  in  accordance  with  the  tenu^j 
of  a  truce.'^  Both  letters  were  written  on  bird 
bark  :  — 

1   PiijticvK  (V A  ji  iisdh  ;  }fi;inoirc  stir  It  snjet  de  la  yiiene  dcs  Irmjuois,  ItJoJI 
("Gfu  ?)■     ^!^- 

'^  Jouniui  'I'S  ,/e'siiitis,  300. 


lor.i.] 


FRANCOIS  IIERTEL. 


6T 


^[v  Kkverknd  Father:  —  The  v(  i-y  day  when  you  loft 
Time  llivcrs  I  was  ca})t\ire(l,  .it  about  three  in  the  aRenioon, 
bv  tl)ui-  Iroquois  of  the  Mohawk  tribe.  I  would  not  have  been 
tiikcii  alive,  iti  to  my  sorrow,  I  had  not  feared  tliat  1  was  not 
ill  a  lit  state  to  die.  If  you  came  here,  my  Father,  I  could 
liavc  tiie  l)ai>])incss  of  confessing  to  you;  and  I  do  not  think 
thcv  would  do  you  any  harm  ;  and  I  think  that  I  could  return 
lioinc  with  you.  I  )>ray  you  to  ]>ity  my  j)Oor  mother,  who  is 
in  Ljrcat  trouble.  Y^ou  know,  my  Father,  how  fond  she  is  of 
iiH'.  1  have  heard  from  a  Frenchman,  who  was  taken  at 
Three  Uivers  on  the  1st  of  August,  that  she  is  well,  and  com- 
forts herself  with  the  ho})e  that  I  shall  see  you.  Tiiere  are 
three  of  us  Frenchmen  alive  here.  I  commend  myself  to  your 
t>o()«l  prayers,  and  particularly  to  the  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the 
M.iss.  I  pray  you,  my  Father,  to  say  a  mass  for  me.  I  juay 
vou  give  my  dutiful  love  to  my  j»oor  mother,  and  console  her, 
if  it  pleases  you. 

Mv  Father,  I  beg  your  blessing  on  the  hand  that  writes  to 
vou,  which  has  one  of  the  fingers  burned  in  the  bowl  of 
an  Indian  pipe,  to  satisfy  the  Majesty  of  Go<l  which  I  have 
ott'ended.  The  thumb  of  the  other  hand  is  cut  off;  but  do 
not  ull  my  mother  of  it. 

^Iv  Father,  I  nrav  vou  to  lionoi*  ine  with  a  word  froin  vour 
li:in«l  in  reply,  and  tell  me  if  you  shall  come  here  before 
wintei". 

Your  most  humble  and  most  obedient  servant, 

Fi{AN(;ois  IIektel. 

The  following  is  the  letter  to  liis  motlier,  sent 
])robably.  Avitli  the  other,  to  the  charge  of  Le 
Mo\ne  :  — 


Mv    MOST    DEAR    AXT)    ITOXORKl)    MoTHER '  —  T    know    VCrV 

well  that  mv  .ca])ture  must  have  distressed  vou  verv  much. 
I  M>k  vou  to  foj'iiive  my  disobedience.  It  is  ni\  sins  that 
have  placed  me  where  I  am.  I  owe  my  life  to  your  prayers, 
ami  those  of  M.  de  Saint-l^uentin,  and  (  'my  sisters.  I  li()p(  to 
,  H'c  you  again  before  winter.   I  pray  y      to  tell  the  good  breth- 


68 


THE  HET^OES  OF   THE  LONG   SAUT. 


[IGGO. 


ren  of  Notre  Dame  to  pray  to  God  and  the  IToly  Virgin  for  mo, 
mj  dear  mother,  and  for  you  and  all  my  sisters. 

Your  poor 

Fanciion. 

This,  no  rloiibt,  was  the  name  by  Avhich  she  liad 
called  liim  familiarly  when  a  child.  And  who  Mas 
this  '^  Fanchon,"  this  devout  and  tender  son  of  a 
fond  mother  ?  New  England  can  answer  to  her  cost. 
When,  twenty-nine  years  later,  a  band  of  French 
and  Indians  issued  from  the  forest  and  fell  upon 
the  fort  and  settlement  of  Salmon  Falls,  it  was 
Francois  Hertel  who  led  the  attack ;  and  when  the 
retiring  victors  were  hard  pressed  by  an  over- 
whelming force,  it  was  he  Avho,  sword  in  hand,  held 
the  pursuers  in  check  at  the  bridge  of  AYooster 
Eiver,  and  covered  the  retreat  of  his  men.  He 
was  ennobled  for  his  ser  Ices,  and  died  at  the  nge 
of  eiiihtv,  ti]e  founder  of  one  of  the  most  distiii- 
guished  families  of  Canada.^  To  the  New  England 
of  old  he  was  the  abhorred  chief  of  Popish  malig- 
nants  and  murdering  savages.  The  New  England 
of  to-day  will  be  more  just  to  the  brave  defender 
of  his  country  and  his  faith. 

In  May,  IGGO,  a  party  of  French  Algonquin^ 
captured  a  Wolf,  or  Mohegan,  Indian,  naturalized 
araoiiL*:  tlio  Iroquois,  brought  him  to  Quebec,  and 
burned  hiuj  there  with  tlieir  usual  atrocity  of  tor- 
ture. A  irodern  Catholic  writer  says  that  the 
Jesuitf-J  could  not  save  him  j  but  this  is  not  fo, 
Their  iiifiuence  over  the  consciences  of  the  colonists 


1  His  letters  of  n()l)ility,  fldted  1716,  will  be  found  in  Daniel's  Hhfoin 
des  Graudts  Fuinillis  Frani^aisfs  dn  Canada,  404. 


IGGO.] 


THE  WOLF  BURNED. 


69 


was  at  that  time  unboimcleclj  and  their  direct  po- 
litical power  was  very  great.  A  protest  on  their 
part,  and  that  of  the  newly  arrived  bishop,  who 
Avas  in  their  interest,  could  not  have  failed  of  effect. 
The  truth  was,  they  did  not  care  to  prevent  the 
torture  of  prisoners  of  war,  not  solely  out  of  that 
spirit  of  compliance  with  the  savage  humor  of 
Indian  allies  which  stains  so  often  the  pages  of 
French  American  history,  but  also,  and  pei'haps 
chielly,  from  motives  purely  religious.  Torture,  in 
their  eves,  seems  to  have  been  a  blessin<>:  in  dis- 
guise.  They  thought  it  good  for  the  ,^oul,  and  in 
case  of  obduracy  the  surest  w^ay  of  salvation.  '^  We 
have  very  rarely  indeed,"  w^rites  one  of  them, 
''  seen  the  burning  of  an  Iroquois  Avithout  feeling 
sure  that  he  w^as  on  the  path  to  Paradise ;  and  we 
never  knew  one  of  them  to  be  surely  on  the  path 
to  Paradise  without  seeing  him  pass  through  this 
fiery  punishment."^  So  they  let  the  Wolf  burn; 
but  first,  having  instructed  him  after  their  fashion, 
they  baptized  him,  and  his  savage  soul  flew  to 
heaven  out  of  the  fire.  '^  Is  it  not,"  pursues  the 
same  writer,  '^  a  marvel  to  see  a  Avolf  clianged  at 
one  stroke  into  a  lamb,  and  enter  into  the  fold  of 
Christ,  which  he  came  to  ravage  ?  " 

Before  he  died  he  requited  their  spiritual  cares 
with  a  startling  secret.  He  told  them  that  eight 
hundred  Iroquois  warriors  were  encamped  ]jelow 
Montreal ;  that  four  hundred  more,  who  had  win- 
tered on  the  Ottawa,  were  on  the  point  of  joining 
them ;  and  that  the  united  force  w'ould  swoop  upon 

1  Relation,  1G60,  31. 


70 


THE  IIEKOES   OF  THE   LONG   SAUT. 


[IGGO. 


Quebec,  kill  the  governor,  lay  waste  the  town,  and 
then  attack  Three  Rivers  and  Montreal.^  This 
time,  at  least,  the  Irocjiiois  were  in  deadly  earnest. 
Quebec  was  wild  with  terror.  The  Ursulines  iind 
the  nuns  of  the  Hotel  Dieu  took  refuge  in  the 
strong  and  extensive  building  Avhich  the  Jesuits 
had  just  finished,  opposite  the  Parish  Church.  Its 
walls  and  palisades  made  it  easy  of  defence;  .iiid 
in  its  yards  and  court  were  lodged  the  terrilied 
Hurons,  as  well  as  the  fugitive  inhabitants  of  the 
neighboring  settlements.  Others  found  asylimi  in 
the  fort,  and  others  in  the  convent  of  the  Ursulines. 
which,  in  place  of  nims,  was  occupied  by  twenty- 
four  soldiers,  who  fortified  it  with  redoubts,  and 
barricaded  the  doors  and  windows.  Similar  meas- 
ures of  defence  were  taken  at  the  Hotel  Dieu. 
and  the  streets  of  the  Lower  Town  were  strongly 
barricaded.  Everybody  was  in  arms,  and  the 
Qui  Vive  of  the  sentries  and  patrols  resounded  all 

Several  days  passed,  and  no  Iroquois  appeared. 
The  refugees  took  heart,  and  began  to  return  to 
their  deserted  farms  and  dwellings.  Among  the 
rest  was  a  family  consisting  of  an  old  woman,  her 
daughter,  her  son-in-law,  and  four  small  children. 
living  near  St.  Anne,  some  twenty  miles  below 
Quebec.  On  reaching  home  the  old  woman  and 
the  man  \vent  to  tlieir  work  in  the  fields,  while 
the  mother  and  children  i-emained  in  the  house. 

1  Marie  de  I'lncarnation,  Lcttre,  "25  Jain,  lOfjO. 

2  On  tliis  alarm  at  Quebec  compare  Marie  de  I'lncarnation.  25  Jnln, 
1660;  Relation,  IGGO,  y  ;  Juciiereau,  Ilistoirede  I'lldtel-Dieude  Q,ue'l)ic,  \'lo\ 
and  Journal  des  Jtfsuites,  282. 


ICCO  ] 


THE   CAPTORS  CAPTURED. 


71 


IL'ii'  tlioj  were  poiincofl  upon  and  captured  by 
ciw'lit  i-eiiegade  liui'uus.  IrocpioLs  by  adoption,  wbo 
')lii(C'(l  tlieni  in  tbeir  large  canoe,  and  paddled  up 
the  river  with  their  prize.  It  was  Saturday,  a  day 
(Indicated  to  the  Virgin  ;  and  the  captive  mother 
pniNed  lu  her  for  aid, '' feeling,"  writes  a  Jesuit, 
'•a  full  conviction  that,  in  passing  before  Quebec 
on  a  Saturday,  she  would  be  delivered  by  the  power 
of  this  Queen  of  Heaven."  In  fact,  as  the  nia- 
ramlers  and  their  captives  glided  in  the  darkness 
of  night  by  Point  Levi,  under  the  shadow  of  the 
shore,  they  were  greeted  with  a  volley  of  musketry 
from  the  bushes,  and  a  band  of  French  and  xVlgon- 
quins  dashed  into  the  water  to  seize  them.  Five 
of  the  eight  were  taken,  and  the  rest  shot  or 
drowned.  The  governor  had  hejird  of  the  descent 
at  St.  Anne,  and  despatched  a  party  to  lie  in  am- 
bush for  the  authors  of  it.  The  Jesuits,  it  is  need- 
less to  say,  saw  a  miracle  in  the  result.  The  Virgin 
had  answered  the  prayer  of  her  votary.  "  Though 
it  is  true,"  observes  the  father  who  records  the 
marvel,  "  that,  in  the  volley,  she  received  a  mortal 
wound."  The  same  shot  struck  the  infant  in  her 
arms.  The  prisoners  were  taken  to  Quebec,  where 
four  of  them  were  tortured  with  even  more  ferocity 
than  had  been  shown  in  the  case  of  the  unfortunate 
Wolf.^    Being  questioned,  they  confirmed  his  story. 


'  The  torturers  were  Christian  Algnnquins,  converts  of  the  Jesuits. 
Cimuinonot,  who  was  present  to  give  spiritual  aid  to  the  sufferers,  de- 
Bcrilies  tiie  scene  with  liorrihie  minuteness.  "  I  could  not,"  he  says, 
"deliver  tlieni  from  their  torments."  Perluips  not  :  but  it  is  certain  tliat 
tlie  .Jesuits  as  a  hody,  with  or  witliout  the  hisliop,  could  have  prevented 
the  atrocity,  had  tiiey  seen  fit.     They  sometimes  taught  their  converts  to 


72 


TIIK   HKItOKS   OF  THK  LONG   SAUT. 


[16fil). 


!ii:IH 


and  oxprosscd  grojit  sur])risc  that  the  Iroquois  liurl 
not  coiiu',  adding  that  they  must  have  sto[)|)e(l  to 
attack  Montreal  or  Three  Kivers.  Again  all  was 
terror,  and  again  days  passed  and  no  eneiiiv 
appeared.  Had  the  dying  converts,  so  charitiil)]y 
despatched  to  heaven  through  (ire,  sought  an  iin- 
hallowed  consolation  in  scaring  the  abettors  of  tlicli 
torture  with  a  lie?  Not  at  all.  Batin(»:  a  sliuht 
exaggeration,  they  had  told  the  truth.  Wlicri'. 
then,  "were  the  Iroquois  ?  As  one  small  point  ol 
steel  disarms  the  lightning  of  its  terrors,  so  did  lln' 
heroism  of  a  few  intrepid  youths  divert  this  storm 
of  war  and  save  Canada  from  a  possible  ruin. 

In  the  preceding  April,  before  the  designs  of 
the  Iroquois  were  known,  a  young  officer  named 
Daulac,  commandant  of  the  garrison  of  Montreal, 
asked  leave  of  Maisonneuve,  the  governor,  to  load 
a  party  of  volunteers  against  the  enemy.  His  })lan 
was  bold  to  desperation.  It  was  known  that  liu- 
quois  warriors  in  great  numbers  had  wintered 
among  the  forests  of  the  Ottawa.  Daulac  proposed 
to  waylay  them  on  their  descent  of  the  river,  and 
fight  them  without  regard  to  disparity  of  force. 
The  settlers  of  Montreal  had  hitherto  acted  sololv 
on  the  defensive,  for  their  numbers  had  been  too 
small  for  a^^'gressive  war.     Of  late  their  streiii'tli 

DO  a 

had  been  somewhat  increased,  and  Maisonneuve, 
judging  that  a  display  of  enterprise  and  boldness 


pray  for  tlieir  enemies.  It  would  liave  been  well  had  tliey  taufjlit  tliLMU 
not  to  torture  tlieui.  I  can  recall  but  one  instance  in  which  tiiey  did  so. 
The  prayers  for  enemies  were  always  for  a  sjiirituul,  not  a  teuiporal  gnod. 
The  fathers  held  the  body  in  slight  account,  and  cared  little  what  hap- 
pened to  it. 


WA 


DAULAC  DES   ORMEAUX. 


iiilnjit  not  as  a  check  on  tlio  audacity  of  the  enemy, 
at  l(Mi<itli  <!;ave  his  consent. 

A<l;nii  Daulac,  or  Dollard,  Sieiir  des  Ornieaux, 
was  a  young  nuin  of  good  family,  who  had  come 
to  the  colony  three  years  before,  at  the  age  of 
twcntv-two.  He  liad  held  some  military  connnand 
ill  France,  though  in  wluit  rank  does  not  appear. 
It  was  snid  that  he  had  been  involved  in  some 
affair  which  made  him  anxious  to  ^vipe  out  the 
memory  of  the  past  by  a  noteworthy  ex})loit ;  and 
he  had  been  busy  for  some  time  among  the  young 
men  of  Montreal,  inviting  them  to  join  him  in  the 
enter] )rise  he  meditated.  Sixteen  of  them  caught 
his  s[)irit,  struck  hands  with  him,  and  pledged  their 
word.  They  bound  themselves  by  oath  to  accept 
no  quarter;  and,  having  gained  Maisonneuve's 
consent,  they  made  their  wills,  confessed,  and 
received  the  sacraments.  As  they  knelt  for  the 
last  time  before  the  altar  in  the  chapel  of  the 
Hotel  Dieu,  that  sturdy  little  population  of  pious 
Indian-lighters  gazed  on  them  with  enthusiasm,  not 
unmixed  with  an  envy  which  had  in  it  nothing 
ignohle.  Some  of  the  chief  men  of  Montreal,  with 
the  brave  Charles  Le  Moyne  at  their  head,  begged 
them  to  Avait  till  the  spring  sowing  was  over,  that 
they  might  join  them;  but  Daulac  refused.  He 
was  jealous  of  the  glory  and  the  danger,  and  he 
wished  to  command,  which  he  could  not  have  done 
had  Le  Moj-ne  been  present. 

The  spirit  of  the  enterprise  was  purely  mediaeval. 
The  enthusiasm  of  honor,  the  enthusiasm  of  adven- 
ture, and  the  enthusiasm  of  faith,  were  its  motive 


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Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


33  WEST  MAIN  STRf  ET 

WEBSTER, NY.  MSaO 

(716)  973-4503 


74 


THE   HEROES  OF  THE  LONG   SAUT, 


[1G60. 


forces.  Dtiulac  was  ji  knight  of  the  early  ernsude^ 
among  the  forests  ami  savages  of  the  New  World. 
Yet  the  incidents  of  this  exotic  heroism  are  cleliiiite 
and  clear  as  a  tale  of  yesterday.  The  names,  aue^. 
and  occupations  of  the  seventeen  young  men  iiiuv 
still  be  read  on  the  ancient  register  of  the  paiish 
of  Montreal ;  and  the  notarial  acts  of  that  \  ciir. 
preserved  in  the  records  of  the  city,  contain  minute 
accounts  of  such  property  as  each  of  them  possessed. 
The  three  eldest  were  of  twentv-eight,  thirtv,  and 
thii*ty-one  years  respectively.  The  age  of  the  rest 
varied  from  twenty-one  to  twenty-seven.  Thev 
were  of  various  callings,  —  soldiers,  armorers,  hxlx- 
smiths,  lime-l)urners,  or  settlers  without  track's, 
The  <i!:reater  number  had  come  to  the  colon v  as 
part  of  the  reinforcement  ])rought  by  Maisonncuw 
m  lb')o. 

After  a  solemn  farewell  they  embarked  in  sev- 
eral canoes  well  sup[)lied  with  arms  and  annnuni- 
tion.  They  were  very  indifferent  canoe-men  ;  and 
it  is  said  that  they  lost  a  week  in  vain  attempts  to 
pass  the  swift  current  of  St.  Anne,  at  the  head  of 
the  island  of  Montreal.    At  len<»:th  thev  were  moiv 

O  ft 

successful,  and  enterinu:  the  mouth  of  the  Ottinvii. 
crossed  the  L;d\e  of  Two  Mountains,  and  slowh 
advanced  iigainst  the  current. 

Meanwhile,  forty  warriors  of  that  remnant  of  the 
Ilurons  who.  in  spite  of  Irocpiois  ])ersecutions,  still 
lingerec  at  (Quebec,  h:<fl  set  out  on  a  war-party,  led 
bv  the  brave  and  wilv  P^tienne  Annahotaha,  tlieir 

ft'^  « 

most  noted  chief.  They  stop])ed  by  the  way  at 
Three  Rivers,  where  thev  fonnd  a  band  of  Christian 


i.;go.| 


INDIAX  ALLIES. 


i'J 


Aliioii<|uins  under  a  cliiof  named  Mituvemeg.  An- 
iiahotaha  cliallenged  him  to  a  trial  of  courage,  and 
it  \v;i^  aui'eed  that  thev  should  meet  at  Montreal, 
vdicre  they  wei'e  likely  to  iind  a  s[)eedy  oppor- 
tiiiiitv  of  |)utting  their  mettle  to  the  test.  Thither, 
accordingly,  the^'  repaired,  the  Algonquin  with 
thii'c  followers,  and  the  Huron  with  thirty-nine. 

It  was  not  long  hefore  they  learned  the  departure 
of  Danlac  and  his  eom])anions.  "  P'or."  ohserves 
ilic  honest  Dollier  de  Casson,  "  the  prinei])al  fault 
of  our  Frenchmen  is  to  talk  too  much."  The  wish 
seized  them  to  share  the  adventure,  and  to  that 
end  the  Huron  chief  asked  the  governor  for  a  letter 
to  Daulac,  to  serve  as  credentials.  Maisonneuve 
hesitated.  His  faith  in  Huron  valor  wtis  not  great, 
and  he  feared  the  j)roposed  alliance.  Nevertheless, 
lu'  at  length  yielded  so  far  as  to  give  Annaiiotaha 
a  letter  in  which  Daulac  was  told  to  acce])t  or  reject 
tlio  jM'offered  reinforcement  as  he  should  see  fit. 
The  Hurons  and  Algonquins  now  end)arked  and 
paddled  in  pursuit  of  the  seventeen  Frenchmen. 

They  meanwhile  had  passed  with  difficulty  the 
swift  current  at  Carillon,  and  ahout  the  first  of 
May  icached  the  foot  of  the  more  formidahle  rapid 
called  the  Long  8aut,  where  a  tumult  of  waters, 
foaiuiiiu:  amon<»'  ledy-es  and  boulders,  l)arred  the 
onward  way.  It  was  needless  to  go  farther.  The 
liofpiois  were  snre  to  pass  the  Sant,  and  could  be 
fouuht  here  as  well  as  elsewhere.  Just  below  the 
rapid,  where  the  forests  sloped  gently  to  the  shore, 
among  the  bushes  and  stumps  of  the  rough  clearing 
luadc  in  constructing   it,  stood  a  palisade  fort,  the 


V 

e 

r 


7G 


TH1-:   IIKROES  OF   THE  LONG   SAUT. 


[loco. 


I 


^1 

1 1 


"vvoi'k  of  an  Algonquin  war-party  in  tlie  past  autiimn, 
It  wa.s  a  mere  enclosure  of  trunks  of  small  Irhs 
planted  in  a  circle,  and  was  already  ruinous.  Such 
as  iu  was,  the  Frenclnnen  took  possession  of  it. 
Their  first  ciire,  one  would  think,  should  have  Ikmh 
to  repair  and  strengthen  it;  but  this  they  seem 
not  to  have  done  :  possi))ly,  in  the  exjdtatioii  di 
their  minds,  they  scorned  such  precaution.  Tlicv 
made  their  fires,  and  slung  their  kettles  on  tlic 
neighboring  shore  ;  and  here  they  were  soon  joiiicil 
by  th(»  Ilm'ons  and  Algonipiins.  Daulac,  it  seems 
made  no  objection  to  their  company,  and  they  ;ill 
bivouacked  together.  Morning  and  noon  and  niL^lit 
they  prayed  in  three  different  tongues ;  and  wli  n 
at  sunset  the  long  reach  of  forests  on  the  fiirtlici 
shore  basked  peacefully  in  the  level  rays,  the  rnpiiN 
joined  their  hoarse  music  to  the  notes  of  their  even- 
in*"'  hvmn. 

In  a  day  or  two  their  scouts  came  in  with  ti<liiii:« 
that  two  Iroipiois  canoes  were  coming  down  tln' 
Saut.  Daulac  had  time  to  set  his  men  in  aiuhibli 
among  the  l)uslies  at  a  point  where  he  thought  tin' 
strangers  likely  to  land.  lie  judged  aright.  The 
canoes,  bearing  five  Iroquois,  a])proached,  and  avciv 
met  by  a  volley  fired  with  su(di  ])recipitation  tlmt 
one  or  more  of  them  esca])ed  the  shot,  fled  into  tin 
forest,  and  told  their  mischance  to  their  main  lioilv, 
two  hundred  in  number,  on  the  river  above.  A 
fleet  of  canoes  suddenly  appeared^  bounding  down 
the  rapids,  filh'd  with  warriors  eager  for  revenge. 
The  allies  had  barely  time  to  escape  to  their  lort. 
leaving  their  kettles  still  slung  over  the  fires.   Tlie 


im. 


THE    FORT   ATTACKKI). 


77 


Troqiiois  in.ule  a  hasty  and  desultory  attack,  and 
^^L'l•('  (|iiickly  roi)ulsod.  Tlicy  next  opened  a  parley, 
lioitlnu'.  no  doubt,  to  gain  some  advantage  l)y  sur- 
jiiisc.  Failing  in  this,  they  set  themselves,  after 
their  (Mistom  on  such  occasions,  to  building  a  rude 
fort  of  tlieir  own  in  the  neighl)oring  forest. 

This  gave  the  French  a  breathing-time,  and  they 
used  it  for  strengthening  their  defences.  Being 
provided  with  tools,  they  planted  a  row  of  stakes 
within  their  palisade,  to  form  a  double  fence,  and 
filled  the  intervening  space  with  earth  and  stones 
to  tlie  height  of  a  man,  leaving  some  twenty  loop- 
holes, at  each  of  which  three  marksmen  were  sta- 
tioned. Their  work  was  still  nnfinished  when  the 
li()(|uois  were  upon  them  again.  They  had  broken 
to  pieces  the  ])irch  canoes  of  the  French  and  their 
idlies,  and,  kindling  the  bark,  rushed  up  to  pile  it 
lilazing  against  the  palisade  ;  but  so  brisk  and  steady 
a  fire  met  them  that  thev  recoiled  and  at  last  gave 
Avay.  They  came  on  again,  and  again  were  driven 
haek.leavinG;  manv  of  their  nund)er  on  the  o'round, 
among  them  the  princi])al  chief  of  the  Senecas. 
Some  of  the  French  dashed  out,  and,  covered  by 
the  lire  of  their  conu'ades,  hacked  oii'  his  head,  and 
stuck  it  on  the  palisade,  while  the  Iroquois  liowled 
ill  a  frenz}'  of  helpless  rage.  They  tried  another 
attack,  and  were  beaten  off  a  third  time. 

This  dashed  their  spirits,  and  they  sent  a  canoe  to 
call  to  their  .aid  five  hundred  of  their  warriors  who 
were  mustered  near  the  mouth  of  the  liicdielieu. 
These  were  the  allies  whom,  but  for  this  mitoward 
cheek;  they  were  on  their  way  to  join  for  a  com- 


t 
i 


78 


THE   IIi:i{()ES  OF  THE   LONG   SAUT. 


9 


billed  attack  on  (^iieljoc,  Throe  Kivers,  and  Mon- 
treal.  It  was  niaddeninu:  to  see  tlieir  grand  projd' 
thwarted  hy  a  lew  French  and  Indians  enscoucir 
in  a  palti'v  redou])t,  scarcely  ))etter  than  a  cattli- 
pen  ;  l)ut  they  were  forced  to  digest  the  affront  ;i> 
best  tliev  nii»!:ht. 

Meanwhik.',  crouclied  beliind  trees  and  logs,  tliiv 
beset  the  fort,  harassing  its  defenders  day  and  iiinht 
with  a  spattering  tire  and  a  constant  menace  ot 
attack.  Thus  five  days  passed.  nun<i^er,  tliiiM, 
and  want  of  sleep  wrought  fatally  on  the  strength 
of  the  French  and  their  jdlies,  who,  pent  i])  to- 
gether in  their  narrow  })rison,  fought  and  jjinycd 
by  turns.  Deprived  as  they  were  of  water,  tliiv 
could  not  swallow  the  crushed  Indian  corn,  or 
''  hominy,"  which  was  their  only  food.  Some  of 
them,  under  cover  of  a  brisk  tire,  ran  down  to  tin 
river  and  filled  such  small  vessels  as  they  had  ;  but 
this  pittance  onlv  tantalized  their  thirst.  Thev  (liii: 
a  hole  in  the  fort,  and  wore  rewarded  at  last  bva 
little  muddy  water  oozing  through  the  clay. 

Among  the  assailants  were  a  number  of  Huroib. 
odo]^ted  by  the  Iroquois  and  fighting  on  their  side. 
These  renei»:ades  now  shouted  to  their  countryim'n 
in  tlie  fort,  tellimi^  them  that  a  fresh  arm\'  Avib 
close  at  hand  ;  that  they  woukl  soon  be  attacktii 
bv  seven  or  eiu'ht  hundred  warriors  ;  and  tluit  tbcir 
only  hope  was  in  joining  the  Iroquois,  who  Avould 
receive  them  as  friends.  Annahotaha's  followers, 
half  dead  with  thirst  and  famine,  listened  to  ibeii 
seducers,  took  the  bait,  and,  one,  two,  or  three  nt 
a  time,  climbed  the  palisade,  and  ran  over  to  tre 


1600. 


THE    REINFOKCKMKNT. 


79 


enomv,  amid  the  li()()tin<^'s  aiul  execrations  of  those 
wlioiii  they  deserted.  Tlieir  chiet"  stood  linn  ;  and 
when  he  saw  his  nephew.  La  Ah)i;('he,  join  the  other 
fiiLiitives,  he  iired  his  pistol  at  him  in  a  ra«j:e.  Tlie 
four  Al^Li'onqnins,  who  ):ad  no  merey  to  hoi)e  for, 
stood  fast,  with  the  courage  of  des})air. 

On  the  fifth  dav  an  in)roar  of  unearthlv  \ells 
from  seven  hundred  savage  throats,  mingled  with 
a  cluttering  salute  of  musketry,  told  the  French- 
men tiiat  the  ex[)ected  reinforcement  had  come ; 
and  soon,  in  the  forest  and  on  the  clearing,  a  crowd 
of  warriors  mustered  for  the  attack.  Knowing 
from  the  Huron  deserters  the  weakness  of  their 
enemy,  they  had  no  doubt  of  an  easy  victory.  They 
advanced  cautiously,  as  was  usual  with  the  Jrocpiois 
before  their  blood  was  up,  screeching,  leaping  from 
.xide  to  side,  and  firing  as  they  came  on  ;  but  the 
French  were  at  their  posts,  and  every  loophole 
darted  its  tongue  of  fire.  Besides  muskets,  they 
had  heavy  musketoous  of  large  calibre,  which,  scat- 
tering scraps  of  lead  and  iron  among  the  throng  of 
savaires,  often  maimed  several  of  them  at  one  dis- 
charge.  The  Iroquois,  astonished  at  the  persistent 
viu'or  of  the  defence,  fell  back  discomfited.  The  fire 
01  the  French,  who  were  themselves  completelv 
under  cover,  had  told  upon  them  Avith  deadly  effect. 
Tlu'ce  days  more  wore  away  in  a  series  of  futile 
attacks,  made  with  little  concert  or  vigor ;  and 
during  all  this  time  Daulac  and  his  men,  reeling 
with  exhaustion,  fought  and  prayed  as  before,  sure 
of  a  niartvr's  reward. 

The  uncertain,  vacillating  temper  common  to  all 


in 


4^; 


80 


THE  IIKROES  OF  THE   LONG   SAUT. 


[WA 


.a 


Indians  now  began  to  declare  itself.  Sonic  of  the 
Iroquois  were  lor  going  home.  Others  revolted  ;it 
the  thought,  and  declared  that  it  would  he  mi 
eternal  disgrace  to  lose  so  many  men  at  the  Ii.iikK 
of  so  paltry  an  (Miemy,  and  yet  fail  to  take  revoiigo, 
It  was  resolved  to  make  a  general  assault,  and  vol- 
unteers wore  called  for  to  lead  the  attack.  After 
the  custom  on  such  occasions,  bundles  of  small 
sticks  were  thrown  upon  the  ground,  and  tho* 
picked  them  up  who  dared,  thus  accepting  tin 
giige  of  battle,  and  enrolling  themselves  in  the 
forlorn  hope.  No  precaution  was  neglected.  Largi 
and  heavy  shields  four  or  five  feet  high  were  niadi 
by  lashing  together  three  split  logs  with  the  aid  of 
cross-bai's.  Covering  themselves  with  these  nimi- 
telcts,  tlie  chosen  band  advanced,  followed  by  t!i 
motley  throng  of  warriors.  In  spite  of  a  brisk  (ire, 
they  reached  the  palisade,  and,  crouching  below 
the  range  of  shot,  hewed  furiou4y  with  their 
hatchets  to  cut  their  way  through.  The  rest  fol- 
lov/ed  close,  and  swarmed  like  angry  hornet^ 
around  the  little  fort,  hacking  and  tearing  to 
get  in. 

Daulac  had  ciammed  a  large  musketoon  Avitli 
powder,  and  plugged  up  the  nnr/zle.  Lighting  the 
fuse  inserted  in  it,  he  tried  to  throw  it  over  the  hnr- 
rier,  to  l)urst  like  a  grenade  among  the  crowd  uf 
savages  without ;  but  it  struck  the  ragged  top  of 
one  of  the  palisades,  fell  l)ack  jimong  the  Freiic!!- 
men  and  exploded,  killing  and  wounding  sevenil 
of  them,  and  nearly  blindin<i^  others.  In  the  eon- 
fusion  that  followed,  the  Iroquois  got  possession  of 


ICCO.] 


THE  FORT   TAKKN. 


81 


tho  loopliolcs,  and,  thrusting  in  tlieir  guns,  fired  on 
{]n)<v  williln.  In  a  moment  more  tliey  had  torn  a 
biv.ich  in  the  palisades ;  hut,  nerved  with  the  energy 
of  desperation,  Dauhic  and  his  foUowers  sprang  to 
(Ictciid  it.  Anotlier  breaeli  was  made,  and  then 
allot Iier.  Dauhic  was  struck  dead,  ])ut  the  sur- 
vivors kept  up  the  light.  With  a  sword  or  a 
liatchet  in  one  hand  and  a  knife  in  the  other,  tliey 
threw  themselves  against  the  throng  of  enemies, 
fitriking  and  staljl)ing  with  the  fury  of  madmen; 
till  ihe  Irocpiois,  despairing  of  taking  them  alive, 
fired  volley  after  volley  and  shot  them  down.  AH 
wiis  over,  and  a  hurst  of  triumpliant  yells  pro- 
elaiiiR'd  the  dear-bought  victory. 

Searching  the  pile  of  corpses,  the  victors  found 
four  Frenchmen  still  breathing.  Three  had  scarcely 
a  spaik  of  life,  and,  as  no  time  was  to  ])c  lost,  they 
bullied  them  on  the  spot.  The  fourth,  less  for- 
tunate, seemed  likely  to  survive,  and  they  reserved 
liiin  for  future  torments.  As  for  the  Huron  de- 
sorters,  tlieir  cowardice  profited  them  little.  The 
Iroquois,  regardless  of  their  promises,  fell  upon  them, 
hiinied  some  at  once,  and  carried  the  rest  to  tlieir 
villages  for  a  similar  fate.  Five  of  the  nund)er  had 
t!ie  good  fortune  to  escape,  and  it  was  from  them, 
aided  by  admissions  made  long  afterwards  by  the 
hotpiois  themselves,  that  the  French  of  Canada 
derived  all  their  knowledge  of  this  glorious  disaster.^ 

'  Wlien  tlie  fugitive  Ilurons  reaclie<l  Montreal,  tliey  were  uinviliing 
tocdiiti'ss  their  desertion  of  tiie  French,  an<l  dechired  that  they  and  some 
ot'iiMii  of  their  i>eopie,  to  the  niiniher  of  fourteen,  ha('  stood  hy  them  to 
tlic  la-^t.  This  was  the  story  told  hy  one  of  them  to  the  Jesuit  Cliaunio- 
iiut,  and  hy  him  connnunicated  in  a  letter  to  his  friends  at  Quehec.     Tlie 


82 


THE  IIEimES   OF  THE  LONG   SAUT. 


[]f,.> 


To  the  colony  it  proved  a  salvation.  The  Iru- 
qiiois  had  had  fighting  enougii.  It"  seveiitcLn 
Frenchmen,  four  Algonquins^  and  one  Huron,  In- 
hind  a.  picket  fence,  could  hold  seven  hun(h"ed  war- 
riors  at  bay  so  long,  what  might  they  expect  lioiu 
many  such,  fighting  behind  wahs  of  stone  ?  Fur 
that  year  they  thought  no  more  of  capturing  QiK'liue 
and  Montreal,  but  went  home  dejected  and  aniiiziMi. 
to  howl  over  their  losses,  and  nurse  their  dashed 
courage  for  a  day  of  vengeance. 


n 


substance  of  tliis  letter  is  ffiven  by  Marie  «le  rincarnation,  in  lier  ktturto 
lier  soil  of  June  25,  IGGO.  Tiie  Jesuit  licJation  of  tiiis  year  gives  aiioiher 
long  account  of  the  aHiiir,  also  derived  from  the  Huron  deserters,  who 
tliis  time  only  pretended  that  ten  of  tlieir  number  remained  witli  the 
French.  They  afterwards  admitted  that  all  had  deserted  but  Animl.o 
taha,  as  appears  from  the  account  drawn  u])  by  DoUier  de  Casson,  in  hi< 
Ilistoire  (In  }r<infrf'^(il.  Another  contemjmrary,  Helniont,  who  heard  the 
story  from  an  Inxjuois,  nuikes  the  same  statement.  All  these  writer*, 
though  two  of  them  were  not  friendly  to  Montreal,  agree  that  Daiilac 
and  his  followers  saved  Canada  from  a  disastrous  invasion.  The  i^'uv- 
ernor,  Argenson,  in  a  letter  written  on  the  fourth  of  July  following:, 
and  in  his  Mifinolrc  snr  If  siijct  dc  hi  (jncrre  di-s  Iroquois,  exi)resses  the  same 
conviction,  liefore  me  is  an  extract,  copied  from  the  Petit  Jhqistii' d-  k 
Cure  de  .}fontre(d,  giving  the  names  and  ages  of  Daulac's  men.  The 
Abbe'  Faillon  took  extraordinary  pains  to  collect  all  the  evidence  touch- 
ing this  affair.  See  his  Ifisfnire  de  la  Colonic  Frunqdiite,  II.  chap,  xv, 
Charlevoix,  very  little  to  his  credit,  passes  it  over  in  silence,  not  being 
partial  to  Montreal. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

1G57-16C8. 

THE  DISPUTED   BISHOPRIC. 

Domestic   SxniFE.  —  Jkslit   and   Suli'ITian.  —  Aijhe   Qijkylus. — 
Fkaxcois  de  Laval.  —  The  Zealots  of  Caen.  —  Gali.icav  and 

Ul.THA.MONTANE.  —  TUE     l{lVAL    CLAIMANTS.  —  StOKM    AT    QuEHEC. 

—  Laval  TniUJiriiANT. 


Canada,  gasping  under  the  Iroquois  tomahawk, 
miulit,  one  would  suppose,  have  thouglit  h(ir  cup  of 
tribulation  full,  and,  sated  with  inevitable  woe,  have 
^ouglit  consolation  from  the  wrath  without  in  a 
holy  calm  within.  Not  so,  however ;  for  while  the 
heathen  raged  at  the  door,  discord  rioted  at  the 
lioartlistone.  Her  domestic  quarrels  were  Avonder- 
ful  in  number,  diversity,  and  bitterness.  There  was 
the  standing  quarrel  of  Montreal  jind  Quebec,  the 
qujuTels  of  priests  with  each  other,  of  priests 
witli  tlie  governor,  and  of  the  governor  with  the 
inteudant,  besides  ceaseless  wranglings  of  rival 
traders  and  rival  peculators. 

Some  of  these  disputes  were  local  and  of  no 
special  significance ;  while  others  are  very  inter- 
esting, because,  on  a  remote  and  o])scure  theatre, 
they  represent,  sometimes  in  striking  forms,  the 


if' 

0- 


!(;„• 

IL 

tf.; 

IM 

<•■• 
t. 
It 

S ' 

»' 

r 


84 


TIIK    DlsrUTKl)    IJISIIOI'RIC. 


li6o:. 


conteiuling  passions  and  principles  of  a  most  im- 
poitMiit  opocli  of  history.  To  hogin  with  dn. 
\vhi('li  even  to  this  day  has  left  a  root  of  hitter- 
ness  hehiiid  it. 

The  association  of  pious  enthusiasts  \vhu  hal 
founded  Montreal'  was  reduced  in  1057  to  a  icm- 
nant  of  five  or  six  persons,  whose  ebbing  zeal  ami 
overtaxed  purses  were  no  longer  equal  to  the  de- 
vout but  arduous  enterprise.  They  begged  the 
priests  of  the  Seminary  of  St.  Sul[)ice  to  take  it  otl' 
their  hands.  The  priests  consented  ;  and,  though  the 
conveyance  of  the  island  of  Montreal  to  these  its 
new  |)ro[)rietors  did  not  take  effect  till  some  years 
later,  four  of  the  Sulpitian  fathers,  Queylus,  Soiiait. 
Galinee,  and  Allet,  came  out  to  the  colony  and 
took  it  in  charge.  Thus  far  Canada  had  had  no 
bishop,  and  the  Snlpitians  now  aspired  to  give  it 
one  from  their  own  brotherhood.  Many  }ears 
before,  when  the  Recoil ets  liad  a  foothold  in  the 
colony,  they  too,  or  at  least  some  of  them,  had  chor- 
ished  the  liope  of  giving  Canada  a  bishop  of  tlioir 
own.^  As  for  the  Jesuits,  Avho  for  nearly  thiitv 
vcars  bad  of  themselves  constituted  the  Canadian 
church,  they  had  been  content  thus  far  to  dispense 
w^itli  a  bishop ;  for,  having  no  rivals  in  the  licld, 
they  had  felt  no  need  of  episcopal  snpport. 

The  Snlpitians  put  forward  Queylus  as  tlioir 
candidate  for  the  new  bishopric.  The  assembly 
of  French  clergy  approved,  and  Cardinal  Mazarin 

1  See  Jesuits  in  Nortli  Ajnerica,  cliap.  xv. 

2  Meinoire  qui  faict  pour  Vujjiiire  des  P.P.  Recollects  de  la  prouiiice  iJc  St. 
Denyx  difte  de.  Paris  touchant  le  drolct  qu'ils  ont  depuis  Van  1615,  d'alkr  m 
Quanada  souls  V authority  de  Sa  Maiest^,  etc.     iG37. 


looT.) 


JKSUIT   AND   SlTLriTIAN. 


85 


liiiii^rlf  sochumI  to  sniictloM,  tlio  noiiiinntioii.  The 
.Ic'^uits  saw  thai  lh<'ir  time  of  action  was  come.  It 
Wiis  iIh'V  who  Iiad  horiic  the  heat  iiiid  hurdcii  of 
till'  (lay,  the  toils,  pri\atioiis,  and  martyrdoms,  while 
;is  vet  the  8nl[)itians  had  (h)ne  nothing'  and  cn- 
(hirc'd  nothing.  If  any  hod}'  of  ecclesiastics  was 
to  have  the  nomination  of  ji  hisliop,  it  clearly  he- 
loniicd  to  them,  the  Jesuits.  Their  nnght,  too, 
iiiiitclicd  their  riglit.  'J'hey  wei'e  strong  at  court; 
Mazariii  withdrew  his  assent,  and  the  .lesuits  were 
invited  to  name  a  l)ish()j)  to  their  liking. 

Meanwhile  the  Sulpitians,  des])airing  of  the  hish- 
oprie,  had  sought  their  solace  elsewhere.  Ships 
hound  for  Canada  had  usually  sailed  from  ports 
\vithiii  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Archhishop  of  IJoueii, 
iind  the  departing  missionaries  had  received  their 
ecclesiastical  powers  from  him,  till  he  had  learned 
to  reu'ai'd  Canada  as  an  outlving  section  of  liis  die- 

I  ci'se.  Not  iniwilling  to  assert  his  claims,  he  now 
iiiiide  Queylus  his  vicar-general  for  all  Canada, 
thus  clothing  hun  with  episcopal  powers,  and  plac- 
ing' him  over  the  heads  of  the  Jesuits.  (Queylus, 
ill  effect,  though  not  in  njime,  a  hishop,  left  his 
companion  Souart  in  the  spiritual  charge  of  Mon- 
treal, came  down  to  Quehec,  announced   his  new 

i  (liirnity,  and  assumed  the  curacy  of  the  parish. 
The  Jesuits  received  him  at  first  with  their  usual 
urbanity,  an  exercise  of  self-control  rendered  more 
casv  l)y  their  knowledge  that  one  more  potent  than 

I  Queylus  would  soon  arrive  to  supplant  him.' 


I. 

t,. 


'  A  iletaikHl  account  of  the  experiences  of  Queylus  at  Quel)eo,  imme- 
>     diatt'iy  at'ler  liis  arrival,  as  related  hy  hiniself,  will  be  fouiul  in  u  nienjoir 


I 


86 


THE  DISPUTED   BISHOPRIC. 


[!'>.:. 


The  vicar  of  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen  was  a 
man  of  many  virtues,  devoted  to  good  works,  a^ 
he  understood  them;  rich,  for  the  Sulpitians  were 
under  no  vow  of  poverty  ;  generous  in  iilms- 
giving,  bus}^,  indefatigable,  overflowing  with  zeal. 
\'ivacious  in  temperament  and  excitable  in  temper. 
impatient  of  opposition,  and,  as  it  seems,  incapable. 
like  his  destined  rival,  of  seeing  any  way  of  doinir 
good  but  his  own.  Though  the  Jesuits  were  out- 
wardly coiirteous,  their  partisans  would  not  listen 
to  the  new  cure's  sermons,  or  listened  only  to  find 
fault,  and  germs  of  discord  grew  vigorously  in  the 
parish  of  Quebec.  Prudence  was  not  among  tlio 
virtues  of  Queylus.  He  launched  two  seriiioii< 
a^rainst  the  Jesuits,  in  which  he  likened  himself 
to  Christ  and  them  to  the  Pharisees.  "  Who,"  he 
supposed  them  to  say,  "  is  this  Jesus,  so  beloved  of 
the  people,  who  comes  to  cast  discredit  on  us,  who 
for  thirty  or  forty  years  have  governed  churcli  and 
state  here,  \.ith  none  to  dispute  us?"^  He  de- 
nounced such  of  his  hearers  as  came  to  pick  fla^vs 
in  his  discourse,  and  told  them  it  would  be  better 
for  their  souls  if  they  lay  in  bed  at  home,  sick  of 
a  "  good  quartan  fever."  His  ire  was  greatly  kin- 
dled by  a  letter  of  the  Jesuit  Pijart,  which  fell  into 
his  hands  through  a  female  adherent,  the  pious 

by  the  Sulpitiaii  Allet,  in  Morale  Pratique  des  J^suites,  XXXIV.  diiip. 
xii.  In  cluipfer  ten  of  the  same  volume  tlie  writer  says  tLat  he  y'mki 
Queyhis  at  Mont  St.  Vale'rien,  after  his  return  from  Canada.  "  II  me 
prit  a  part ;  nous  nous  pronienames  assez  longtemps  dans  le  jardin  et  il 
m'ouvrlt  son  ccjuur  sur  la  conduite  des  Jc'suites  dans  le  Canada  et  piirtnut 
ailleurs.  Messieurs  de  St.  Sulpice  savent  bien  ce  qu'il  m'en  a  pu  dire,  et  je 
Buis  assurd  qu'ils  ne  diront  pas  que  je  I'ui  dd  prendre  pour  des  mensonges." 
1  Journal  des  J^suites,  Oct.,  1667. 


S'V: 


1657.] 


LAVAL. 


87 


Mndmne  d'Aillebout,  and  in  which  that  father  de- 
clared tliiit  he,  Queylus,  was  waging  war  on  him 
and  his  brethren  more  savagely  tluni  the  Iroquois.^ 
''lie  was  as  crazy  at  sight  of  a  Josiiit,"  writes  an 
adverse  biographer,  ^^  as  a  mad  dog  at  sight  of 
water."  ^  He  cooled,  however,  on  being  shown 
certain  papers  which  proved  that  his  position  was 
neither  so  strong  nor  so  secure  as  he  had  supposed ; 
and  the  governor,  Argenson,  at  length  persuaded 
him  to  retire  to  Montreal.^ 

The  queen  mother,  Anne  of  Austria,  always  in- 
clined to  the  Jesuits,  had  invited  Father  Le  Jeune, 
who  was  then  in  France,  to  make  choice  of  a  bishop 
for  Canada.  It  was  not  an  easy  task.  No  Jesuit 
was  eligible,  for  the  sage  policy  of  Loyola  had  ex- 
cluded members  of  the  order  from  the  bishopric. 
The  signs  of  the  times  portended  trouble  for  the 
Canadian  church,  and  there  was  need  of  a  bishop 
who  would  assert  her  claims  and  fight  her  battles. 
Such  a  man  could  not  be  made  an  instrument  of 
the  Jesuits;  therefore  there  was  double  need  that 
he  should  be  one  with  them  in  sympathy  and 
purpose.  They  made  a  sagacious  choice.  Le 
Jeune  presented  to  the  queen  mother  the  name 
of  Franc^ois  Xavier  de  Laval-Montmorency,  Abbe 
do  Montigny. 

Laval,  for  by  this  name  he  was  thenceforth 
known,  belonged  to  one  of  the  proudest  families 
of  Europe,  and,  churchman  as   he  was,  there  is 


I 


Ih,; 
p' 


». 


1  Journal  dfs  Jifsnites,  Oct.,  1667. 

2  Viger,  Notice  Nistorique  sur  l'Ahb€de  Qim/lus. 
^  Paiiiers  d' Argenson, 


88 


THE   DISPUTED  BISHOPRIC. 


1105: 


i.  ? 


I' 


much  in  his  career  to  remind  us  that  in  his  veins 
ran  the  blood  of  the  stern  Constable  of  Franco. 
Anne  de  Montmorency.  Nevertheless,  his  thoughts 
from  childhood  had  turned  towards  the  church,  or. 
as  his  biogra})liers  will  have  it,  all  his  aspirations 
were  heavenward.  He  received  the  tonsure  at  th 
age  of  nine.  The  Jesuit  Bagot  confirmed  ami 
moulded  his  youthf  id  predilections ;  and,  at  a  later 
period,  he  was  one  of  a  band  of  young  zealots. 
formed  under  the  auspices  of  Bernieres  de  Lou- 
vigni,  royal  treasurer  at  Caen,  who,  though  a  lay- 
man, was  reputed  almost  a  saint.  It  was  Bernieres 
who  had  borne  the  chief  part  in  the  pious  fraud  of 
the  pretended  marriage  through  which  Madame  de 
la  Pel  trie  escaped  from  her  father's  roof  to  become 
foundress  of  the  Ursulines  of  Quebec.^  He  had 
since  renounced  the  world,  and  dwelt  at  Caen,  in  a 
house  attached  to  an  Ursuline  convent,  and  known 
as  the  Hermitage.  Here  he  lived  like  a  monk,  in 
the  midst  of  a  cjmmunity  of  young  priests  and 
devotees,  who  looked  to  him  as  their  spiritual  direc- 
tor, and  whom  he  trained  in  the  maxims  and  prac- 
tices of  the  most  extravagant,  or,  as  his  admirers 
say,  the  most  sublime  ultramontane  piety .^' 

The  conllict  between  the  Jesuits  and  the  Jan- 
senists  was  then  at  its  height.  The  Jansenist  doc- 
trines of  election  and  salvation  by  grace,  which 
sapped  the  power  of  the  priesthood  and  impugned 
the  authority  of  the  Poi)e  himself  in  his  capacity 
of  holder  of  the  keys  of  heaven,  were  to  the  Jesuits 

1  See  .lestiits  in  North  Aincricn,  chap.  xiv. 

2  La  Tour,  V'ie  de  iMcal,  gives  lus  maxims  at  length. 


1057-G2.] 


THE   HERMITAGE   OF   CAEN. 


89 


an  al >omi nation ;  while  the  rigid  morals  of  the  Jan- 
senists  stood  in  stern  contrast  to  the  pliancy  of 
Jesuit  casuistry.  Bernieres  and  his  disciples  were 
zealous,  not  to  say  fanatical,  partisans  of  the  Jesuits. 
There  is  a  long  account  of  the  "  Hermitage  "  and 
its  inmates  from  the  pen  of  the  famous  Jansenist, 
Nicole ;  an  opponent,  it  is  true,  but  one  whose 
qualities  of  mind  and  character  give  weight  to  his 
testimony.^ 

"  In  this  famous  Hermitage,"  says  Nicole,  "  the 
late  Sieur  de  Bernieres  brought  up  a  number  of 
young  men,  to  whom  he  taught  a  sort  of  sublime 
and  transcendental  devotion  called  passive  prayer, 
because  in  it  the  mind  does  not  act  at  all,  but 
merely  receives  the  divine  operation ;  and  this 
devotion  is  the  source  of  all  those  visions  and  reve- 
lations in  which  the  Hermitage  is  so  prolific."  In 
short,  lie  and  his  disciples  were  mystics  of  the  most 
exalted  type.  Nicole  pursues  :  '^  After  having  thus 
suljtilized  their  minds,  and  almost  sublimed  them 
into  vapor,  he  rendered  them  capable  of  detecting 
Jaiisenists  under  any  disguise,  insomuch  that  some 
of  his  followers  said  that  they  knew  them  by  the 
scent,  as  dogs  know  their  game  ;  but  the  aforesaid 
Sieur  de  Bernieres  denied  that  they  had  so  subtile 
a  sense  of  smell,  and  said  that  the  mark  bv  which 
he  detected  Jansenists  was  their  disapproval  of  his 
teachings  or  their  opposition  to  the  Jesuits." 


fV 


The  zealous  band  at  the  Hermitaire  was  aided  in 


In,.' 

4"- 

t 
If' 


■■). 


!■ 


'  Mifmoire  pour  faire  connoisfrr  I'csprit  et  la  condnile  (h  In  Cnmim(i»ic, 
etablle  en  la  vi'lle  de  Caen,  aiijxll^'  V lli'rmitiujr.  (Uibliotlieque  Nationals, 
Imprimes,  Partie  IWservde).    Written  in  IGGO. 


90 


THE  DISPUTED   BISHOPRIC. 


[lfio7-r,2 


its  efforts  to  extirpate  error  by  a  sort  of  external 
association  in  the  city  of  Caen,  consisting  of  inor- 
chants,  priests,  officers,  petty  nobles,  and  others, 
all  inspired  and  guided  by  Bernieres.  They  met 
every  week  at  the  Hermitage,  or  at  the  houses  of 
each  other.  Similar  associations  existed  in  other 
cities  of  France,  besides  a  fraternity  in  the  Rue 
St.  Dominique  at  Paris,  which  was  formed  by  the 
Jesuit  Bagot,  and  seems  to  have  been  the  parent, 
in  a  certain  sense,  of  the  others.  -  They  all  acted 
together  when  any  important  object  was  in  view. 

Bernieres  and  his  disciples  felt  that  God  had 
chosen  them  not  only  to  watch  over  doctrine  and 
discipline  in  convents  and  in  families,  but  also  to 
supply  the  prevalent  deficiency  of  zeal  in  bisliops 
and  other  dignitaries  of  the  church.  They  kept,  too, 
a  constant  eye  on  the  humbler  clergy,  and  when- 
ever a  new  preacher  appeared  in  Caen,  two  of  their 
number  were  deputed  to  hear  his  sermon  and  report 
upon  it.  If  he  chanced  to  let  fall  a  word  concern- 
ing the  grace  of  God,  they  denounced  him  for  Jan- 
senistic  heresy.  Such  commotion  was  once  raised 
in  Caen  by  charges  of  sedition  and  Jansenism, 
brought  by  the  Hermitage  against  priests  and  lav- 
men  hitherto  without  attaint,  that  the  Bishop  of 
Ba3^eux  thought  it  necessary  to  interpose ;  but  even 
he  was  forced  to  pause,  daunted  by  the  insinuations 
of  Bernieres  that  he  was  in  secret  sympathy  with 
the  obnoxious  doctrines. 

Thus  the  Hermitage  and  its  affiliated  societies 
constituted  themselves  a  sort  of  inquisition  in  the 
interest  of  the  Jesuits  j  "  for  what,"  asks  Nicole, 


16.37-t'.2.1 


THE  ZEALOTS  AT   CAEN. 


91 


"mi"lit  not  be  expected  from  persons  of  weak  minds 
and  ntrabilious  dispositions,  dried  up  by  constant 
f lists,  vigils,  and  other  austerities,  besides  medita- 
tions of  three  or  four  hours  a  day,  and  told  con- 
tinually that  the  church  is  in  imminent  danger  of 
ruin  through  the  machinations  of  the  Jansenists, 
who  are  represented  to  them  as  persons  who  wish 
to  break  up  the  foundations  of  the  Christian  faith 
and  subvert  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation ;  who 
believe  neither  in  transubstantiation,  the  invocation 
of  sniuts,  nor  indulgences ;  Avho  wish  to  abolish  the 
sacrifice  of  the  Mass  and  the  sacrament  of  Penitence, 
oppose  the  worship  of  the  Holy  Virgin,  deny  free- 
will and  substitute  predestination  in  its  place,  and, 
in  fine,  conspire  to  overthrow  the  authority  of  the 
Supreme  Pontiff." 

Among  other  anecdotes,  Nicole  tells  the  follow- 
ing: One  of  the  young  zealots  of  the  Hermitage 
toolv  it  into  his  head  that  all  Caen  was  full  of  Jan- 
senists,  and  that  the  cures  of  the  place  were  in  league 
with  them.  He  inoculated  four  others  with  this 
notion,  and  they  resolved  to  warn  the  people  of 
their  danger.  They  accordingly  made  the  tour  of 
the  streets,  without  hats  or  collars,  and  with  coats 
unbuttoned,  though  it  was  a  cold  winter  day,  stop- 
ping every  moment  to  proclaim  in  a  loud  voice 
that  all  the  cures,  excepting  two,  whom  they  named, 
were  abettors  of  the  Jansenists.  A  mob  was  soon 
following  at  their  heels,  and  there  was  great  excite- 
ment. The  magistrates  chanced  to  be  in  session, 
and,  hearing  of  the  disturbance,  they  sent  consta- 
bles to  arrest  the  authors  of  it.     Being  brought  to 


r 


92 


THE  DISPUTED  BISHOrRIC. 


[iOo:-c2 


the  bar  of  justice  and  questioned  by  the  judge,  thcv 
answered  that  they  were  doing  the  work  of  (Jofl, 
and  were  ready  to  die  in  the  cause ;  tliat  Caen  was 
full  of  Jansenists,  and  that  the  cures  had  declared 
in  their  favor,  inasmuch  as  tliey  denied  any  k.iowl- 
edge  of  their  existence.  Four  of  the  five  were 
loc]\ed  up  for  a  few  days,  tried,  and  sentenced  to 
a  fine  of  a  hundred  livres,  with  a  promise  of  furtluT 
punislnnent  sliould  they  again  disturb  the  peace.' 

The  fifth,  being  pronounced  out  of  his  wits  In- 
tlie  physicians,  was  sent  home  to  his  mother,  at  a 
village  near  Argentan,  where  two  or  three  of  his 
fellow  zealots  presently  joined  him.  Among  tlieni. 
they  persuaded  his  mother,  who  had  hitherto  Ijeeii 
devoted  to  household  cares,  to  exchange  them  fur 
a  life  of  mystical  devotion.  ^'Ihese  three  or  four 
persons,"  says  Nicole,  "  attracted  others  as  imlf^cilo 
as  themselves."  Among  these  recruits  were  a  num- 
ber of  A^'omen,  and  several  priests.  After  various 
acts  of  fanaticism,  "  two  or  three  days  before  last 
Pentecost,"  proceeds  the  narrator,  "  they  all  set 
out,  men  and  women,  for  Argentan.  The  priests 
had  drnwn  the  skirts  of  their  cassocks  over  tlieir 
heads,  and  tied  them  about  tlieir  necks  with  twisted 
straw.  Some  of  the  women  ha^d  their  heads  bare, 
and  their  hair  streaming  loose  over  their  shoulders. 
They  picked  up  filth  on  the  road,  and  rubbed  their 
faces  with  it,  and  the  most  zealous  ate  it,  saviim" 

•  /  4,'  \> 

that  it  was  necessary  to  mortify  the  taste.     Some 


I  Nicole  18  not  the  only  authority  for  this  story.  It  is  also  told  hya 
very  ditferent  writer.  See  Notice  Ilistorique  cle  I'Abbaye  de  Sle.  Claire 
d'Aiyciitan,   12-4. 


Ib67-C2.] 


MORE  EXTRAVAGANCE. 


93 


held  stones  in  their  hands,  which  they  knocked 
together  to  draw  the  attention  of  the  passers-by. 
Tlit'V  had  a  leader,  whom  they  were  bound  to  obey ; 
and  when  this  leader  saw  any  mud-hole  particularly 
deep  and  dirty,  he  commanded  some  of  the  party 
to  roll  themselves  in  it,  which  they  did  forthwith.^ 

"  After  this  fashion,  they  entered  the  town  of 
Argcntan,  and  marched,  two  by  two,  through  all 
the  streets,  crying  with  a  loud  voice  that  the  Faith 
was  perishing,  and  that  whoever  wished  to  save  it 
must  quit  the  country  and  go  with  them  to  Canada, 
whither  they  were  soon  to  repair.  It  is  said  that 
they  still  hold  this  purpose,  and  that  their  leaders 
declare  it  revealed  to  them  that  they  will  find  a 
vessel  ready  at  the  first  port  to  which  Providence 
directs  them.  The  reason  why  they  choose  Canada 
for  an  asylum  is,  that  Monsieur  de  Montigny 
[Laval),  Bishop  of  Petrixja,  who  lived  at  the  Her- 
mita";e  a  lon<2:  time,  where  he  was  instructed  in 
mystical  theology  by  Monsieur  de  Bernieres,  exer- 
cises episcopal  functions  there  ;  and  that  the  Jesuits, 
who  are  their  oracles,  reign  in  that  country." 

This  adventure,  like  the  other,  ended  in  a  colli- 
sion with  the  police.  "  The  priests,"  adds  Nicole, 
'•were  arrested,  and  are  now  waiting  trial,  and  the 
rest  were  treated  as  mad,  and  sent  back  with  shame 
and   confusion   to    the   places  whence   they   had 


come. 


)> 


1  These  proceedings  were  probably  intemlod  to  produce  the  result 
wliich  WHS  tlie  constanv  object  of  the  mystics  of  the  Hermitage  ;  namely, 
tlie  "anniiiilation  of  self,"  with  a  view  to  a  perfect  union  with  God.  To 
become  despised  of  men  was  an  important,  if  not  an  essential,  step  in  this 
mystical  suicide. 


■  #• 
J  » . 

t       " 


94 


THE  DISPUTED  BISHOPRIC. 


[It^57-e2, 


1657-62.]  G. 


Though  these  pranks  took  place  after  Laval  had 
left  the  Ilerniitage,  they  serve  to  characterize  tk- 
school  in  which  he  was  formed ;  or,  more  j  ustly 
speaking,  to  sliow  its  most  extravagant  side.  Tli;ir 
others  did  not  share  the  views  of  the  celebniti'd 
Jansenist,  may  be  gathered  from,  the  following  pas- 
sage of  the  funeral  oration  pronounced  over  the 
body  of  ^  Laval  half  a  century  later :  — 

''  The  humble  abbe  was  next  transported  into 
the  terrestrial  paradise  of  Monsieur  de  Bernicre. 
It  is  thus  that  I  call,  as  it  is  fitting  to  call  it,  thai 
famous  Hermitage  of  Caen,  where  the  seraphic 
author  of  the  '  Christian  Literior '  (Bernieres)  trans- 
formed into  angels  all  those  who  had  the  happiness 
to  be  the  companions  of  his  solitude  and  of  his 
spiritual  exercises.  It  was  there  that,  during  four 
years,  the  fervent  abbe  drank  the  living  and  abound- 
ing waters  of  grace  which  have  since  flowed  so  be- 
nignly over  this  land  of  Canada.  In  this  celestial 
abode  his  ordinary  occupations  were  prayer,  mor- 
tification, instruction  of  the  poor,  and  spiritual 
readings  or  conferences ;  his  recreate'  ms  were  to 
labor  in  the  hospitals,  wait  upon  the  sick  and  poor, 
make  their  beds,  dress  their  wounds,  and  aid  tlieiii 
in  their  most  repulsive  needs."  ^ 

In  truth,  Laval's  zeal  was  boundless,  and  the 
exploits  of  self-humiliation  recorded  of  him  were 
unspeakably  revolting.^  Bernieres  himseK  regarded 

1  Eloge  funehre  de  Messi're  Francois  Xavier  de  Laval-Montmorenci/,  par 
Messire  de  la  Colombiere,  Vicaire  G^n^ral. 

2  See  La  Tour,  Vie  de  Laval,  Liv.  I.  Some  of  them  were  closely  akin 
to  that  of  the  fanatics  mentioned  above,  who  ate  "  immondicets  d'animaux" 
to  mortify  the  taste. 


IGoT-C*?.] 


GALLICAN  AND   ULTRAMONTANE. 


95 


him  as  a  light  by  which  to  guide  his  own  steps  in 
ways  of  hohness.  He  made  journeys  on  foot  ahout 
tlie  country,  dis^^'iised,  penniless,  begging  from 
door  to  door,  and  courting  scorn  and  op[)robrium, 
••  ill  order,"  says  his  biographer,  ''  that  he  might 
siiftei  for  the  love  of  God."  Yet,  though  living  at 
this  time  in  a  state  of  habitual  religious  exaltation, 
iie  was  by  nature  no  mere  ilreamer ;  and  in  what- 
ever heights  his  spirit  might  wander,  his  feet  were 
ahvays  planted  on  the  solid  earth.  His  flaming 
zeal  had  for  its  servants  a  hard,  practical  nature, 
perfectly  fitted  for  the  battle  of  life,  a  narrow  in- 
tellect, a  stiff  and  persistent  will,  and,  as  his  ene- 
mies thought,  the  love  of  domination  native  to  liis 
blood. 

Two  great  parties  divided  the  Catholics  of 
France,  —  the  Gallican  or  national  party,  and  the 
ultramontane  or  papal  party.  The  first,  resting 
on  the  Scriptural  injunction  to  give  tribute  to 
Cii\sar,  held  that  to  the  king,  the  Lord's  anointed, 
belonged  the  temporal,  and  to  the  church  the 
spiritual  power.  It  held  also  that  the  laws  and 
customs  of  the  church  of  France  could  not  be 
broken  at  the  bidding  of  the  Pope.^  The  ultra- 
montane party,  on  the  other  hand,  maintained  that 
the  Pope,  Christ's  vicegerent  on  earth,  was  su- 
preme over  earthly  rulers,  and  should  of  right  hold 
juri:<diction  over  the  clergy  of  all  Christendom,  with 
powers  of  appointment  end  removal.  Hence  they 
claimed  for  him  the  right  of  nominating  bishops  in 

'  See  the  famous  Quatre  Articles  of  1682,  in  wliich  the  liberties  of  the 
Gallican  Church  are  asserted. 


B... 


I 


■  '■     tK 

!•  r 

1  i 


(■  - 


96 


THE   DISPUTED  BlSUOrUIC. 


II60I 


■I  i    ,ii' 


France.  This  liad  {inclently  boon  oxerciscd  hy 
assemblies  of  the  French  clergy,  but  in  the  reliinof 
Francis  I.  the  king  and  the  Pope  had  combined  to 
wrest  it  from  them  by  th  '"  cordat  of  Bologna. 
Under  this  compact,  whicn  was  still  in  force,  the 
Pope  appointed  French  bishops  on  the  nomiiintlon 
of  the  king,  a  plan  which  displeased  the  (ialli- 
cans,  and  did  not  satisfy  the  ultramontanes. 

The  Jesuits,  then  as  now,  were  the  most  foicibli' 
exponents  of  ultramontane  principles.  The  church 
to  rule  the  world ;  the  Pope  to  rule  the  church; 
the  Jesuits  to  rule  the  Pope :  such  was  and  is  the 
simple  programme  of  the  Order  of  Jesus,  and  to  it 
they  have  held  fast,  except  on  a  few  rare  occa- 
sions of  misunderstanding  with  the  Vicegerent  of 
Christ.^  In  the  question  of  papal  supremacy,  as 
in  most  things  else,  Laval  was  of  one  mind  Avitli 
them. 

Those  versed  in  such  histories  will  not  be  sur- 
prised to  learn  that,  when  he  received  the  royal 
nomination,  humility  would  not  permit  him  to 
accept  it;  nor  that,  being  urged,  he  at  length 
bowed  in  resignation,  still  protesting  his  unworthi- 
ness.  Nevertheless,  the  royal  nomination  did  not 
take  effect.  The  ultramontanes  outflanked  both 
the  king  and  the  Gallicans,  and  by  adroit  strategy 
made  the  new  prelate  completely  a  creature  of  the 
papacy.  Instead  of  appointing  him  Bishop  of  (Que- 
bec, in  accordance  with  the  royal  initiative,  the 
Pope  made   him   his  vicar   apostolic  for  Canada, 


1  For  example,  not  long  after  tins  time,  tlie  Jesuits,  liaving  a  ilispute 
with  Innocent  XL,  tiirew  themselves  into  the  party  of  opposition. 


1G57 


LAVAL  AND   QUF-YLUS. 


97 


thus  eviidln^  tlie  king's  noininntioii,  {Uid  alTinnliig 
that  ('Mn;i(hi,  a  country  of  inlidcl  savngcs,  was  cx- 
c'lii(h'(l  ii'om  the  concordat,  and  under  his  (tho 
Pouf's)  jurisdiction  [)urc  and  simple.  The  (Jidli- 
caiis  were  enraged.  The  Archbishop  of  Ivouen 
valnlv  opposed,  and  the  })arlianients  of  Kouen  and 
of  Paris  vainly  protested.  The  ])apal  party  pre- 
vailed. The  king,  or  rather  Mazarin,  gave  his 
consent,  subject  to  certain  conditions,  the  chief  of 
uhicli  was  an  oath  of  allegiance;  and  Laval,  grand 
vicar  ii[)Ostolic,  decorated  with  the  title  of  Bishop 
of  Petram,  sailed  for  his  wilderness  diocese  in  the 
spring  of  165U.^  He  ^vas  but  thirty-six  years  of 
age,  l)ut  even  when  a  boy  he  could  scarcely  have 
.seemed  young. 

(^ueylus,  for  a  time,  seemed  to  accept  the  situa- 
tion, and  tacitly  admit  the  claim  of  Laval  as  his 
ecclesiastical  superior ;  but,  stimulated  by  a  letter 
from  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen,  he  soon  threw  him- 
self into  an  attitude  of  opposition,'-^  in  which  the 
populai'ity  which  his  generosity  to  the  poor  had 
won  for  him  gave  him  an  advantage  very  annoying 
to  his  adversary.  The  quarrel,  it  will  be  seen,  was 
three-sided,  —  Gallican  against  ultramontane,  Sul- 
pitian  against  Jesuit,  Montreal  against  Quebec. 
To  Montreal  the  recalcitrant  abbe,  after  a  brief 
visit  to  Quebec,  had  again  retired  ;  but  even  here, 
girt  with  his  Sulpitian  brethren  and  compassed  with 

'  Compare  La  Tour,  Vie  de  Laril,  with  tlie  lonjj  statement  in  Faillon, 
Coloiile  Frauguise,  IL  315-335.  Faillon  gives  various  documents  in  full, 
inciudiiiir  the  royal  letter  of  nomination  and  those  in  whicli  the  King 
gives  ;i  rchjctant  consent  to  the  appointment  of  the  vicar  apostolic. 

-  Journal  dts  J^suites,  Sept.,  1657. 


98 


THE   DISPUTED   BlSIIOrUIC 


[16 


'JO'J 


i\ 


#■■;; 


partisans,  the  arm  of  the  vicar  apostolic  was  long 
enough  to  reach  hini. 

By  teuiperainent  and  conviction  Laval  hated  a 
divided  authority,  and  the  very  nhadow  of  a  scliism 
was  an  abonil nation  in  his  sight.  The  young  kin^r. 
who,  though  abunchuitly  jealous  of  his  royid  jiowit. 
was  forced  to  conciliate  tlie  papal  j^arty,  had  sent 
instructions  to  Argenson,  the  governor,  to  su|>|i()it 
Laval,  and  prevent  divisions  in  the  Canadian 
church.^  These  instructions  served  as  the  i)ri'tt'xt 
of  a  procedure  sutliciently  summary.  A  scpiad  ot 
soldiers,  connnanded,  it  is  said,  by  the  governor 
himself,  went  up  to  Montreal,  brought  the  indignant 
Queylus  to  Quebec,  and  shipped  him  thence  fo; 
France.^  By  these  means,  writes  Father  Laleniant. 
order  reigned  for  a  season  in  the  church. 

It  Avas  b  it  for  a  season.  Queylus  was  not  a 
man  to  bide  his  defeat  in  tranquillity,  nor  were  lii^ 
brother  Sulpitians  disposed  to  silent  acquiescence, 
Laval,  on  his  part,  was  not  a  man  of  half  measnres. 
He  had  an  agent  in  France,  and  partisans  strong  at 
court.  Fearing,  to  borrow  the  words  of  a  Catliolio 
writer,  that  the  return  of  Queylus  to  Canada  would 
prove  "  injurious  to  the  glory  of  God,"  he  bestirred 
himself  to  prevent  jt.  The  young  king,  then  i\\ 
Aix,  on  his  famous  journey  to  the  frontiers  of 
Spain  to  marry  the  Infanta,  was  induced  to  write 
to  Queylus,  ordering  him  to  remain  in  France.' 
Queylus,  however,  repaired  to  Rome ;    but  even 

1  Lcttre  flu  lioi  a  d' Argenson,  14  Mai,  1659. 

2  Belmont,  Ilistoire  dii  Canmh,  a.d.  1C59.  Memoir  by  Abbd  d'Allet, 
in  Monde  Pratique  des  ,/e'snites,  XXXIV.  725. 

"  Lettre  da  Roi  a  Qneijlus,  27  /■  e6.,  1660. 


iwur.i.] 


ANOTHER   STORM. 


99 


ii'^nlnst  tills  iiioveinont  provision  ]im(1  bcon  iiindo  : 
iicciisiitions  of  JMiiscnisin  luid  »iono  hcforo  liiiii,  mikI 
Ik"  met  a  cold  wclconio.  Xevcrtiiek'ss,  as  lie  lind 
jiowc'ifiil  friends  iicai'  the  Pope,  ho  succeeded  in 
removing  these  adverse  impressions,  and  even  in 
obtaining  certain  hulls  relating  to  the  estahlishnient 
(if  tlic  parish  of  Montreal,  and  favorahle  to  the  Sul- 
pitians.  Provided  with  these,  he  set  at  nought  tiie 
king's  letter,  embarked  under  an  assumed  name, 
imd  sailed  to  Queljec,  where  he  made  his  appear- 
iiiico  on  the  8d  of  August,  1061,^  to  the  extreme 
wrath  of  Laval. 

A  ferment  ensued.  Laval's  partisans  (diarged 
the  Siilpitians  with  Jansenism  and  opposition  to  the 
will  of  the  Pope.  A  preacher  more  zealous  than 
the  rest  denounced  them  as  priests  of  Antichrist ; 
nii'l  as  to  the  bulls  in  their  favor,  it  was  affirmed 
that  Quevlus  had  obtained  them  bv  fraud  from  the 
Holy  Father.  Laval  at  once  issued  a  mandate  for- 
bidding him  to  proceed  to  Montreal  till  ships  should 
arrive  with  instructions  from  the  King.^  At  the 
same  time  he  demanded  of  the  governor  that  he 
should  interpose  the  civil  power  to  prevent  Queylus 
from  leaving  Quebec.^  As  Argenson,  who  wished 
to  act  as  peacemaker  between  the  belligerent 
fathers,  did  not  at  once  take  the  sharp  measures 
required  of  hiin,  Laval  renewed  his  demand  on  the 
next  day,  calling  on  him,  in  the  name  of  God  and 
the  king,  to  compel  Queylus  to  yield  the  obedience 


B'.'.r. 
*<./ 
*<: 
«... 

jr., 
I 


1  Journal  ilea  J^snites,  Aout,  1661. 

2  Lfttre  de  Lacal  a  Queylus,  4  Aout,  1661. 
«'  Lettre  de  Laval  a  d'Aryenson,  Ibid. 


100 


THE  DISPUTED  BISHOPRIC. 


[IGC 


due  to  him,  the  vicar  apostohc.^  At  the  jsnine 
time  he  sent  another  to  the  off  ending  abbe,  tliroat- 
ening  to  suspend  him  from  priestly  functions  if  Ik, 
persisted  in  his  rebellion.^ 

The  incorrigible  Queylus,  who  seems  to  liavi 
lived  for  some  months  in  a  simmer  of  continual  in- 
dignation, set  at  nought  the  vicar  apostolic  as  y 
had  set  at  nought  the  king,  took  a  boat  that  von 
night,  and  set  out  for  Montreal  imder  cover  of  dark- 
ness. Great  was  the  ire  of  Laval  when  he  heard 
the  ncAVS  in.  the  morning.  He  despatched  a  letter 
after  him,  declaring  him  suspended  ipso  facto,  if  lie 
did  not  instantly  return  and  make  his  submission,^ 
This  letter,  like  the  rest,  failed  of  the  desired  effect; 
but  the  governor,  who  had  received  a  second  man- 
date from  the  king  to  support  Laval  and  prevent 
a  schisiT.,*  now  reluctantly  interposed  the  secular 
arm,  and  Queylus  was  again  compelled  to  return 
to  France."^ 

His  expulsion  was  a  Sulpitian  defeat.  Laval, 
always  zealous  for  unity  and  centralization,  hail 
some  time  before  taken  steps  to  repress  what  he 
regarded  as  a  tendency  to  independence  at  Mon- 
treal. Li  the  preceding  year  he  had  written  to  the 
Pope  :  "There  are  some  secular  priests  [SuJ2ntiam\ 
at  Montreal,  whom  tlie  Abbe  de  Queylus  brought 
out  with  him  in  1657,  and  I  have  named  for  the 


1  Tjcttre  (fe  Laval  h  d'Arrjenann,  5  Aoxif,  1661, 
-  fj-Urc  tie  Lnral  a  Qiwijliis,  Ibid. 

» ihid,  0  Aout,  itiai. 

*  Lt-ttre  dit  Hoi  a  d'Arfjpnuon,  18  ^fal,  IGFiO. 

*  I''or  tlietrovernor's  nttitude  in  this  affair,  consult  the  Papiers  d'Argen- 
son,  containing  liis  despatches. 


<»>*,> 


1661. 


VICTORY  OF  LAVAL. 


101 


functions  of  cur^  the  one  among  tliem  whom  I 
thoiiglit  the  least  disobedient."  The  l)ulls  which 
Qiieyhis  had  obtained  from  Eome  related  to  this 
verv curacy,  and  greatly  disturbed  the  mind  of  tlie 
vicar  apostolic.  He  accordingly  wrote  again  to  the 
Pope  :  "  I  pray  yoiu'  Holiness  to  let  me  know  your 
will  concerning  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Archbishop 
of  Kouen.  M.  I'Abbe  de  Queylus,  who  has  come 
out  this  year  as  vicar  of  this  archbishop,  has  tried  to 
deceive  us  by  surreptitious  letters,  and  has  oljcyed 
ueitlier  our  prayers  nor  our  repeated  commands  to 
desist.  But  he  has  received  orders  from  the  king 
to  return  immediately  to  France,  to  render  an  ac- 
count of  his  disobedience,  and  he  has  been  compelled 
bv  the  governor  to  conform  to  the  will  of  his 
Majesty.  What  I  now  fear  is  that,  on  his  return 
to  France,  by  using  every  kind  of  means,  employ- 
ing new  artifices,  and  falsely  representing  our 
affairs,  he  may  obtain  from  the  court  of  Rome 
powers  which  may  disturb  the  peace  of  our  church; 
for  the  priests  whom  he  brought  with  him  from 
France,  and  who  live  at  Montreal,  are  animated 
with  the  same  spirit  of  disobedience  and  division; 
and  I  fear,  with  good  reason,  that  all  belonging  to 
the  seminary  of  St.  Sulpice,  who  may  come  here- 
after to  join  them,  will  be  of  the  same  disposition. 
If  what  is  said  is  true,  that  by  means  of  fraudulent 
letter,-  the  right  of  patronage  of  the  pretended 
])arish  of  Montreal  has  been  granted  to  the  supe- 
rior of  this  seminary,  and  the  right  of  api)ointment 
to  the  Archbishop  of  l\ouen,  then  is  altar  reared 
against  altar   in  our  church  of   Canada;   for  the 


iS-.. 


I':: 

»■: 

ft. 


102 


THE  DISPUTED   BISHOPRIC. 


11668. 


clergy  of  Montreal  will  always  stand  in  opposition 
to  me,  the  vicar  apostolic,  and  to  my  successors."  • 
These  dismal  forebodings  were  never  realized, 
The  Holy  See  annulled  the  obnoxious  bulls ;  the 
Archbishop  of  Rouen  renounced  his  claims,  and 
Queylus  found  his  position  untenable.  Seven  ycar< 
later,  when  Laval  was  on  a  visit  to  France,  a  recon- 
ciliation was  brought  about  between  them.  The 
former  vicar  of  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen  made 
his  submission  to  the  vicar  of  the  Pope,  and  returned 
to  Canada  as  a  missionary.  Laval's  triumph  Avas 
complete,  to  the  joy  of  the  Jesuits,  silent,  if  not 
idle,  spectators  of  the  tedious  and  complex  quarrel. 

1  LfJtre  ch  Laval  au  Pape,  22  Oct.,  1601.    Printed  by  Faillon,  from  tlie 
origmal  in  the  archives  of  the  Propaganda, 


Francois  de  La 


CHAPTER    V. 


1659,  1660. 


LAVAL  AND  ARGENSON. 


Francois  db  Laval.  —  His  Position'  and  CuAnACTER.  —  Arrival 
OF  Argknson.  —  The  Quarrel. 

W. ,  are  touching  delicate  ground.  To  many 
excellent  Catholics  of  our  own  day  Laval  is  an 
object  o"  veneration.  The  Catholic  luiiversity  of 
Quebec  glories  in  bearing  his  name,  and  certain 
modern  ecclesiastical  writers  rarely  mention  him 
in  terms  less  reverent  than  '^  the  virtuous  prel- 
ate," or  '^  the  holy  prelate."  Nor  are  some  of  his 
contemporaries  less  emphatic  in  eulogy.  Mother 
Jiiehereau  de  Saint-Denis,  Superior  of  the  Hotel 
Dieii,  wrote  immediately  after  his  death :  ^'  He  began 
in  bis  tenderest  years  the  study  of  perfection,  and  we 
have  reason  to  think  that  he  reached  it,  since  every 
virtue  which  Saint  Paul  demands  in  a  bishop  was 
.^eeii  and  admired  in  him  ; "  and  on  his  first  arrival 
in  Cnnada,  Mother  Marie  de  I'lncarnation,  Superior 
of  tbe  Ursulines,  wrote  to  her  son  that  the  choice 
of  such  a  prelate  was  not  of  man,  but  of  God.  '^  I 
will  not,"  she  adds,  "  say  that  he  is  a  saint,  but  I 
may  say  with  truth  that  he  lives  like  a  saint  and 


ts.. 


6; 


104 


LAVAL  AND  ARGENSON. 


[lCo9, 


an  apo.stle."  And  she  describes  his  austerity  of 
Ul'e ;  how  he  had  but  two  servants,  a  gardeiHT— 
whom  he  lent  on  occasion  to  his  needy  ueifrli- 
bors  —  and  a  valet;  how  he  lived  in  a  small  him] 
house,  saying  that  he  would  not  have  one  of  his 
own  if  he  could  build  it  for  only  five  sous;  and 
how,  in  his  table,  furniture,  and  bed,  he  showed  the 
spirit  of  poverty,  even,  as  she  thinks,  to  excess. 
Ilis  servant,  a  lay  brother  named  Iloussart,  testiliud. 
after  his  death,  that  he  slept  on  a  hard  bed.  and 
would  not  suffer  it  to  be  changed  even  wln'ii  it 
became  full  of  lleas;  and,  what  is  more  to  the  pur- 
pose, that  he  gave  fifteen  hundred  or  two  thouf^and 
francs  to  the  poor  every  year.^  Iloussart  also  gives 
the  following  specimen  of  his  austerities  :  ^'  1  have 
seen  him  keep  cooked  meat  five,  six,  seven,  or 
eiii'lit  davs  in  the  heat  of  summer,  and  when  it  Avas 
all  mould}/  and  Avormy  he  washed  it  in  >varm  A\ater 
and  ate  it,  and  told  me  that  it  was  very  good" 
The  old  servant  was  so  impressed  by  these  and 
other  proofs  of  his  master's  sanctity,  that  ''  I  deter- 
mined," he  says,  "  to  keep  every  thing  T  could 
that  had  belonged  to  his  holy  person,  and  after  his 
death  to  soak  bits  of  linen  in  his  blood  when  his 
body  was  opened,  and  take  a  few^  bones  and  carti- 
lages from  his  Ijreast,  cut  off  his  hair,  and  keep  his 
clothes,  and  such  things,  to  serve  as  most  precious 
relics."  These  ])ious  cares  were  not  in  vain,  for 
the  relics  proved  greatly  in  demand. 

*  Ldfre  du  Frerr  Ilonssarf,  nnn'm  senileur  cle  ^Pi/r  de  Lnvnl  a  M- 
TremliUiji,  1  Scjtf  ,  170S.  Tliis  letter  is  printed,  tliou^h  witli  one  or  two 
important  omissions,  in  the  Abeille,  Vol.  I.     (Quebec,  1848.) 


1659.] 


FRANCOIS  DE  LAVAL. 


105 


Several  portraits  of  Lavjil  are  extant.  A  drooping 
nose  of  portentous  size ;  a  well-formed  forehead ; 
a  Ijiow  strongly  arched  ;  a  bright,  clear  eye  ;  scanty 
lijiir,  half  hidden  by  a  black  skullcap ;  thin  lips, 
coiu})ressed  and  rigid,  betraying  a  spirit  not  easy 
to  move  or  convince  ;  features  of  that  indescribable 
cii.<t  which  marks  the  priestly  type :  such  is  Laval, 
as  he  looks  grimly  down  on  us  from  the  dingy  can- 
va.s  of  two  centuries  ago. 

He  is  one  of  those  concerning  whom  Protestants 
and  Catholics,  at  least  ultramontane  Catholics,  will 
never  agree  in  judgment.  The  task  of  eulogizing 
liini  ir.ay  safely  be  left  to  those  of  his  own  way 
of  thinking.  It  is  for  us  to  regard  him  from 
the  standpoint  of  secular  history.  And,  first,  let 
us  credit  him  with  sincerity.  He  believed  firmly 
that  the  princes  and  rulers  of  this  world  ought 
to  he  subject  to  guidance  and  control  at  the 
hands  of  the  Pope,  the  vicar  of  Christ  on  earth. 
But  he  himself  Avas  the  Pope's  vicar,  and,  so  far  as 
the  bounds  of  Canada  extended,  the  Holy  Father 
luid  clothed  him  with  his  own  authority.  The  glory 
of  God  demanded  that  this  authority  should  suffer 
no  aljatement,  and  he,  Laval,  would  be  guilty  before 
Heaven  if  he  did  not  uphold  the  supremacy  of  the 
church  over  the  powers  both  of  earth  and  of  hell. 

Of  the  faults  which  he  owed  to  nature,  the  prin- 
cipjd  seems  to  have  been  an  arbitrary  and  domi- 
neering temper.  He  was  one  of  those  who  by 
nature  lean  always  to  the  side  of  authority ;  and  in 
the  Kuglish  Revolution  he  would  inevitably  have 
stood  for  the  Stuarts ;  or,  in  the  American  Kevolu- 


:u: 


-S-. 

'»■■.:; 

I- 

t 

! ' 

I 
■fi' 


106 


LAVAL  AND   ARGENSON. 


[1655. 


tion,  for  the  Crown.  But  being  above  all  thincrs 
a  Catholic  and  a  priest,  he  was  drawn  by  a  consti- 
tutional necessity  to  the  ultramontane  party,  or 
the  party  of  centralization.  He  fought  lustily,  in 
his  way,  against  the  natural  man  ;  and  humility  was 
the  virtue  to  the  culture  of  which  he  gave  his 
chief  attention,  but  soil  and  climate  were  not  fav- 
orable. His  life  was  one  long  assertion  of  the 
authority  of  the  church,  and  this  authority  ^vas 
lodged  in  himself.  In  his  stubborn  fight  for  eccle- 
siastical ascendancy,  he  was  aided  by  the  impulses 
of  a  nature  that  loved  to  rule,  and  could  not  endure 
to  yield.  His  principles  and  his  instinct  of  doiiiiua- 
tion  were  acting  in  perfect  unison,  and  his  con- 
science was  the  handmaid  of  his  fault.  Austerities 
and  mortifications,  playing  at  beggar,  sleeping  in 
beds  full  of  fleas,  or  performing  prodigies  of  gnitu- 
itous  dirtiness  in  hospitals,  however  fatal  to  self- 
respect,  could  avail  little  against  influences  working 
so  powerfully  and  so  insidiously  to  stimulate  the 
most  subtle  of  human  vices.  The  history  of  the 
Roman  church  is  full  of  Lavals. 

The  Jesuits,  adepts  in  human  nature,  had  made 
a  sagacious  choice  when  they  put  forward  this  con- 
scientious, zealous,  dogged,  and  pugnacious  priest 
to  fight  their  battles.  Nor  were  they  ill  pleased 
that,  for  the  present,  he  was  not  Bishop  of  Canada. 
but  only  vicar  apostolic ;  for,  such  being  the  case, 
they  could  have  him  recalled  if,  on  trial,  they  did 
not  like  him,  while  an  uiuicceptable  bishop  would 
be  an  evil  past  remedy. 

Canada  was  entering]:  a  state  of  transition.    Hitli- 


1659.] 


APPROACHING   CHANGE. 


107 


erto  erclesicastical  influence  had  been  all  in  all.  The 
Jesuits,  by  far  the  mosu  educated  and  al)le  body  ^f 
men  in  the  colony,  had  controlled  it,  not  alone  in 
tilings  spiritual,  but  virtually  in  things  temporal 
also ;  and  the  governor  may  be  said  to  have  been 
little  else  than  a  chief  of  police,  under  the  direction 
of  the  missionaries.  The  early  governors  were  them- 
i^elves  deeply  mibued  with  the  missionary  spirit. 
Chani|)lain  was  earnest  aljove  all  things  for  con- 
verting the  Indians ;  Montmagny  was  half-monk, 
for  he  was  a  Knight  of  Malta ;  Aillebout  was  so 
iiisaiu'ly  pious,  that  he  lived  with  his  wife  like  monk 
and  nun.  A  change  was  at  hand.  From  a  mission 
and  a  trading  station,  Canada  was  soon  to  ])ecome, 
in  the  true  sense,  a  colony ;  and  civil  government 
had  begun  to  assert  itself  on  the  banks  of  the  St. 
Lawrence.  The  epoch  of  the  martyrs  and  apostles 
was  passing  away,  and  the  man  of  the  sword  and 
the  man  of  the  gown  —  the  soldier  and  tlie  legist  — 
were  threatening  to  supplant  the  paternal  sway  of 
priests ;  or,  as  Laval  might  have  said,  the  hosts  of 
this  world  were  beleaguering  the  sanctuary,  and 
he  was  called  of  Heaven  to  defend  it.  His  true 
antagonist,  though  three  thousand  miles  away,  was 
the  great  minister  Coll)ert,  as  purely  a  statesman 
as  the  vicar  apostolic  was  purely  a  priest.  Laval, 
no  doubt,  could  see  behind  the  statesman's  back 
another  adversary,  the  devil. 

Ai-genson  was  governor  when  the  crozier  and  the 
sword  began  to  clash,  which  is  merely  another  way 
of  saying  that  he  was  governor  when  Lavjd  arrived. 
He  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  education,  modera- 


•.  #■  ■ 


108 


LAVAL  AND  ARGENSON. 


[1659. 


tion,  and  sense,  and  he  was  also  an  earnest  Catliolio- 
but  if  Laval  had  his  duties  to  God,  so  had  Argcnson 
his  duties  to  the  king,  of  whose  authority  hu  was 
the  representative  and  guardian.  If  the  first  colli- 
sions seem  trivial,  they  were  no  less  the  syniploiii? 
of  a  gra\'e  antagonism.  Argenson  could  have  pur- 
chased peace  only  by  becoming  an  agent  of  the 
church. 

The  vicar  apostolic,  or,  as  he  was  usually  styloii. 
the  bishop,  being,  it  may  be  remembered,  titular 
Bishop  of  Petrt\?a  in  Arabia,  presently  fell  into  a 
quarrel  with  the  governor  touching  the  relative 
position  of  their  seats  in  church,  —  a  point  wliicli, 
by  the  way,  Avas  a  subject  of  contention  for  iniinv 
years,  and  under  several  successive  governors,  TIii.< 
time  the  case  was  referred  to  the  ex-govciiior. 
Aillebout,  and  a  temporary  settlement  took  plaee.^ 
A  few  weeks  after,  on  the  fete  of  Saint  Francis 
Xavier,  when  the  Jesuits  were  accustomed  to  ask 
the  dignitaries  of  the  colony  to  dine  in  tlieir  lofec- 
tory  after  mass,  a  fresh  difficulty  arose, ^Should 
the  governor  or  the  bishop  have  the  higher  seat  at 
table  ?  The  question  defied  solution ;  so  the  fathers 
invited  neither  of  them.^ 

Again,  on  Christmas,  at  the  midnight  mass,  the 
deacon  offered  incense  to  the  bishop,  and  thoiij  in 
obedience  to  an  order  from  him,  sent  a  subordinate 
to  offer  it  to  the  governor,  instead  of  offering  it 
himself.  Laval  further  insisted  that  the  priests  of 
the  choir  should  receive  incense  before  the  u'over- 


some  manua 


1  Liileinant,  in  Journal  des  J^suites,  Sept.,  1G69. 

2  Ibid.,  Dec,  lGu9. 


1659-00 


DISPUTES   OF  PRECEDENCE. 


109 


nor  reoeiverl  it.  Argenson  resisted,  and  a  bitter 
f|iinrrol  ensued.^ 

The  late  governor,  Aille1)out,  had  ]:)cen  church- 
warden '^x  officio  ;^  and  in  this  pions  community  the 
office  Avas  esteemed  as  an  addition  to  his  honors. 
Argoiison  had  thus  far  held  the  same  position ;  but 
Liival  declared  that  he  should  hold  it  no  longer. 
Argciison,  to  whom  the  bishop  had  not  spoken  on 
the  subject,  came  soon  after  to  a  meeting  of  the 
wardens,  and,  being  challenged,  denied  Laval's  right 
to  dismiss  him.  A  dispute  ensued,  in  which  the 
bishop,  according  to  his  Jesuit  friends,  used  lan- 
guage not  very  respectful  to  the  representative  of 
royalty.^ 

On  occasion  of  the  "  solemn  catechism,"  the 
bisliop  insisted  that  the  children  should  salute  him 
before  saluting  the  governor.  Argenson  hearing 
of  this,  declined  to  come.  A  compromise  was  con- 
trived. It  was  agreed  that  when  the  rival  digni- 
taries entered,  the  children  should  be  busied  in 
some  manual  exercise  which  should  prevent  their 
saluting  either.  Nevertheless,  two  boys,  ^'  enticed 
and  set  on  by  their  parents,"  saluted  the  governor 
first,  to  the  great  indignation  of  Laval.  They  were 
whipped  on  the  next  day  for  breach  of  orders."^ 

Next  there  was  a  sharp  quarrel  about  a  sentence 
pronounced  by  Laval  against  a  heretic,  to  which 
the  governor,  good  Catholic  as  he  w^as,  took  excep- 

'  Laleinanl,  in  Journal  des  J^suites,  Dec,  lGo9;  Lettre  d' Argenson  6 
MM.  tie  la  Compiuinie  de  St.  Sulpice. 

^  LIvip  des  D^llh6-(itions  de  la  Fabrique  de  Quebec. 

*  JintriKtl  des  Jesuiies,  Nov.,  1660. 

*  Ibid.,  Feb.,  1661. 


I 

it:- 


110 


LAVAL  AND  AKGENSON. 


11061. 


• 


tion.'  Palm  Sunday  came,  and  there  could  be  no 
procession  and  no  distribution  of  branches,  because 
the  governor  and  the  bishop  could  not  agree  on 
points  of  precedence.^  On  the  day  of  tlie  FOtc 
Dieu,  however,  there  was  a  grand  procession,  ^vhi('ll 
ptopped  from  time  to  time  at  temporary  altars,  or 
rei^osoirs,  placed  at  intervals  jdong  its  course.  One 
of  these  was  in  the  fort,  where  the  soldiers  were 
drawn  up,  waiting  the  arrival  of  the  procession. 
Laval  demanded  that  they  shoidd  take  off  their 
hats.  Argenson  assented,  and  the  soldiers  stood 
uncovered.  Laval  now  insisted  that  thev  sliould 
kneel.  The  governor  replied  that  it  was  their  duty 
as  soldiers  to  stand  ;  whereupon  the  bishop  rciiisi'd 
to  stop  at  the  altar,  and  ordered  the  procession  to 
move  on.^ 

The  above  incidents  are  set  down  in  the  private 
iournal  of  the  superior  of  the  Jesuits,  which  was 
not  meant  for  the  public  eye.  The  bishop,  it  will 
be  seen,  was,  b}^  the  showing  of  his  friends,  in  most 
cases  the  aggressor.  The  disputes  in  question. 
thoTigh  of  a  natin^e  to  jorovoke  a  smile  on  irrev- 
erent lips,  were  by  no  means  so  puerile  as  thcv 
appear.  It  is  difficult  in  a  modern  democratic 
society  to  conceive  the  substantial  importance  of 
the  signs  and  symbols  of  dignity  and  authority. 
at  a  time  and  among  a  people  where  they  Avcr* 
adjusted  with  the  most  scrupulous  precisiou.  and 
accepted  by  all  classes  as  exponents  of  relatiw 
degrees  in  the  social  and  political  scale.     Whether 


•  Journal  rfrs  J^siiites,  Feb.,  1601. 

2  Ibid.,  Avril,  1661.  8  Ibid.,  Juin,  IBC. 


IGGl.] 


APPEAL  OF  ARGENSON. 


Ill 


tho  bisliop  or  the  governor  slioiilrl  sit  in  the  liigher 
seat  at  table  thus  became  a  poHtical  question,  for 
it  (ii'fined  to  the  popuhir  understanding  the  posi- 
tion of  church  and  state  in  their  relations  to 
(fovernment. 

Ilonce  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  a  memorial, 
drawn  up  apparently  by  Argenson,  and  addressed 
to  the  council  of  state,  asking  for  instructions  when 
and  how  a  governor  —  lieutenant-general  for  the 
king  —  ought  to  receive  incense,  holy  water,  and 
consecrated  bread  ;  whether  the  said  bread  should 
be  offered  him  wuth  sound  of  drum  and  fife  ;  what 
should  be  the  position  of  his  seat  at  church ;  and 
what  place  he  should  hold  in  various  religious  cere- 
monies ;  whether  in  feasts,  assemblies,  ceremonies, 
and  councils  of  a  'purelij  civil  character,  he  or  the 
bishop  was  to  hold  the  first  place  ;  and,  finally,  if 
the  bishop  could  excommunicate  the  inhabitants  or 
others  for  acts  of  a  civil  and  political  character, 
when  the  said  acts  were  pronounced  lawful  by  the 
governor. 

The  reply  to  the  memorial  denies  to  the  bishop 
the  power  of  excommunication  in  civil  matters, 
assigns  to  him  the  second  place  in  meetings  and 
ceremonies  of  a  civil  character,  and  is  very  reticent 
as  to  the  rest.' 

Argenson  had  a  brother,  a  counsellor  of  state, 
and  a  fast  friend  of  the  Jesuits.  Laval  was  in 
correspondence  with  him,  and,  apparently  sure  of 
sympathy,  wrote  to  him  touching  his  relations  with 


the  governor. 


't: 


■v  Si; 


"  Your  brother,"   he  begins,  "  re- 


1  Advis  et  Resolutions  demaiides  sitr  la  Nouvelu  France. 


112 


LAVAL  AND  ARGENSON. 


[I'-GHO. 


1:^ 


ceived  me  on  my  arrival  with  extraordinarv  kinrl. 
ness ; "  but  he  proceeds  to  say  that,  perceiving  with 
sorrow  that  he  entertained  a  groundless  distrust  of 
tliose  good  servants  of  (iod,  the  Jesuit  fathers,  he, 
the  bisiiop,  thought  it  his  duty  to  give  hiin  in  pri- 
vate a  candid  warning  which  ought  to  hjivc  doin. 
good,  but  which,  to  his  surprise,  the  governor  had 
taken  amiss,  and  hjid  conceived,  in  consequence,  a 
prejudice  against  his  monitor.^ 

Argenson,  on  his  part,  writes  to  tlie  same  brother, 
at  about  the  same  time.  "  Tlie  Bishop  of  Petra'a  i«i 
so  stiff  in  opinion,  and  so  often  transported  hy  his 
zeal  beyond  the  rights  of  his  position,  that  he  makes 
no  ditHculty  in  encroaching  on  the  functions  cf 
others ;  and  this  with  so  much  heat  that  he  will 
listen  to  nobody.  A  few  days  ago  he  cariicd  oli 
a  servant  girl  of  one  of  the  inhabitants  heiv,  and 
placed  her  by  his  own  authority  in  the  Ursulliie 
convent,  on  the  sole  pretext  that  he  wanted  to  have 
her  instructed,  thus  depriving  her  master  of  her 
services,  though  he  had  been  at  great  expense  in 
bringing  her  from  France,  ihis  inhabitant  is  M. 
Denis,  who,  not  knowing  who  had  carried  her  off. 
came  to  me  with  a  petition  to  get  her  out  of  the 
convent.  I  kept  the  petition  three  days  without 
answering  it,  to  prevent  the  affair  from  being  noised 
abroad.  The  Reverend  Father  Lalemant,  Avitli 
whom  I  connnunicated  on  the  subject,  and  v*!io 
greatly  blamed  the  Bishop  of  Petra3a,  did  all  in 
his  power  to  have  the  girl  given  up  quietly,  but 

'  Lettre  de  Laval  a  M.  (V Argenson,  frere  du  Gouverneur,  20  Od, 
1659. 


Iti69-C0.] 


CLERICAL   VIGOR. 


113 


without  the  least  success,  so  that  I  was  forced  to 
iinswcr  the  petition,  and  i)ennit  M.  Denis  to  take 
his  servant  wherever  he  should  find  her;  and,  it'  I 
had  not  used  niejins  to  bring  tdjout  an  acconinioda- 
lioii.  ;iud  if  M.  Denis,  on  the  refusal  wliieh  was 
inatk'  Iiini  to  give  her  up,  had  brought  the  matter 
into  court,  1  should  have  been  compelled  to  take 
iiR'iisures  which  would  have  caused  great  scandal ; 
and  all  from  the  self-will  of  the  ]5ishop  of  Petrani. 
who  snys  that  a  bishop  ccui  do  what  he  likes,  and 
threatens  nothing  but  exconnnunication."  ^ 

hi  another  letter  he  speaks  in  the  same  strain  of 
this  redundancy  of  zeal  on  the  part  of  the  bishop, 
which  often,  he  says,  takes  the  slujpe  of  obstinacy 
and  encroachment  on  the  rights  of  others.  "  It 
is  greatly  to  be  wished,"  he  observes,  "  that  the 
Bi.^hop  of  Petra)a  would  give  his  confidence  to 
the  Kevei'end  Father  Lalemant  instead  of  Father 
liiigueneau  ;  "  ^  and  he  praises  Lalemant  as  a  per- 
son of  excellent  sense.  "  It  would  be  well,"  he  adds, 
••  if  the  rest  of  their  community  were  of  the  same 
mind ;  for  in  that  case  they  would  not  mix  them- 
selves up  with  various  matters  in  the  way  they  do, 
and  would  leave  the  government  to  those  to  whom 
God  has  given  it  in  charge."  ^ 

One  of  Laval's  modern  admirers,  the  worthy 
Abbe  Ferland,  after  confessing  that  his  zeal  may 
now  and  then  have  savored  of  excess,  adds  in  his 
defence,  that  a  vigorous  hand  was  needed  to  com- 

^  "  —  Qui  diet  qmin  Evesqne  peult  ce  qu'H  veult  et  ne  menace  que  dex- 
cununuiiication."     Lettre  d'Arr/ensun  a  son  Frere,  1059. 
-  /jitra  d'An/enson  u  son  Frere,  21  Oct.,  1069. 
3  Ibid.,  7  J  nil/,  1000. 

8 


I: 


vu 


mw 


114 


LAVAL  AND   ARGENSON. 


I1659-e0. 


pel  the  infant  colon j,  to  enter  "  the  good  path  • " 
meaning,  of  course,  the  straitest  path  of  Konian 
Catholic  orthodoxy.  We  may  hereafter  see  more 
of  this  stringent  system  of  colonial  education,  iu 
success,  and  the  results  that  followed. 


1' 


i 


CHAPTER  VI. 


1658-1663. 


LAVAL  AND  AVAUGOUR. 


Rkceptiox  op  Argenson.  —  IIis  Difficulties.  —  His  Recall.  — 
DiHois  d'Avaugouk.  —  The  Brandy  Quarrel.  —  Distress  op 
Laval.  —  Portents.  —  The  Earthquake. 

WiiEX  Argenson  arrived  to  assume  the  govern- 
ment, a  curious  greeting  had  awaited  him.  The 
Jesuits  asked  him  to  dine ;  vespers  followed  the 
repast ;  and  then  they  conducted  him  into  a  hall, 
Avliere  the  boys  of  their  school  —  disguised,  one  as 
the  Genius  of  New  France,  one  as  the  Genius  of 
the  Forest,  and  others  as  Indians  of  various  friendly 
tribes  —  made  him  speeches  by  turn,  in  prose  and 
verso.  First,  Pierre  du  Quet,  who  played  the 
Genius  of  New  France,  presented  his  Indian  retinue 
to  the  governor,  in  a  complimentary  harangue. 
Then  four  other  boys,  persouating  French  colonists, 
made  him  four  flattering  addresses,  in  French  verse. 
Charles  Denis,  dressed  as  a  Huron,  followed,  bewail- 
ing the  ruin  of  his  people,  and  appealing  to  Argen- 
son for  aid.  Jean  Frant^ois  Bourdon,  in  the  character 
of  an  Algonquin,  next  advanced  on  the  platforui, 
boasted   his   courage,   and   declared    that   he  was 


■-.,f... 


116 


LAVAL  AND  AVAUGOUR. 


[1658 


i  I  m 


ashamed  to  cry  like  the  Huron.  The  Genius  of 
the  Forest  now  appeared,  with  a  retinue  of  wild 
Indians  from  the  interior,  who,  being  unable  to 
speak  French,  addressed  the  governor  in  tk'ir 
native  tongues,  which  the  Genius  proceeded  to 
interpret.  Two  other  boys,  in  the  character  of 
prisoners  just  escaped  from  the  Iroquois,  4lien  came 
forward,  imploring  aid  in  piteous  accents;  and.  in 
conclusion,  tlie  whole  troop  of  Indians,  from  far 
and  near,  laid  their  bows  and  arrows  at  the  feet  of 
Argenson,  and  hailed  him  as  their  chief.^ 

Besides  these  mock  Indians,  a  croAvd  of  genuine 
savages  had  gathered  at  Quebec  to  greet  the  new 
"  Ononthio."  On  the  next  day — at  his  own  cost. 
as  he  writes  to  a  friend  —  he  gave  them  a  feast, 
consisting  of  "  seven  large  kettles  full  of  Indian 
corn,  peas,  prunes,  sturgeons,  eels,  and  fat,  which 
they  devoured,  having  first  sung  me  a  song,  after 
their  fashion."  ^ 

These  festivities  over,  he  entered  on  the  seriou< 
business  of  his  government,  and  soon  learned  that 
his  path  was  a  thorny  one.  He  could  find,  he  say>;. 
but  a  hundred  men  to  resist  the  twenty-four  hun- 
dred warriors  of  the  Iroquois;^  and  he  begs  tlio 
proprietary  company  which  he  represented  to  soml 
him  a  hundred  more,  who  could  serve  as  soldier? 
or  laborers,  according  to  the  occasion. 

^  La  deception  dp  Monscirineiir  k  Vicomte  (TArrjemon  par  tontes  hx  nnim 
du  pais  de  Canada  a  son  entree  an  fjoiivernemont  de  la  Noitvelle  F ronce :  a 
Qiiefitrq  nu  Collcf/n  do  la  CoiufUKjnio  dc  Jifaiis,  le  28  dp  Jndlct  dp  r<ii:ii&  ITik"". 
The  pjioei^hes,  in  Frt'iieli  iuid  Lulian,  are  lierc  given  verbatim,  with  the 
names  of  ail  the  hnys  who  took  part  in  the  ceremony. 

2  Pupiers  d'An/cnson.     Kphec,  5  Sp/>f.,  KiSS. 

i*  M^moire  sttr  h'  sul>j(Tt  (sic)  df  la  Guerre  des  Irmjuois,  1659. 


1C58-0H.J 


TROUBLES   OF  ARGENSON. 


117 


The  company  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  his  appeals. 
They  had  lost  money  in  Canada,  and  wei-e  griev- 
oiisl}-  out  of  humor  with  it.  In  their  view,  the 
first  duty  of  a  governor  was  to  collect  their  del)ts, 
which,  for  more  reasons  than  one,  was  no  easj- 
task.  While  they  did  nothing  to  aid  the  colony 
in  its  distress,  they  beset  Argenson  with  demands 
for  the  thousand  pounds  of  beaver-skins,  which  the 
inhahitants  had  agreed  to  send  them  every  year,  in 
return  for  the  privilege  of  the  fur  trade,  a  privi- 
lege which  the  Iroquois  war  made  for  the  present 
worthless.  The  perplexed  governor  vents  his  feel- 
ings in  sarcasm.  "  They  {the  companu)  take  no 
pains  to  learn  the  truth ;  and,  wlieu  they  hear  of 
,<ettlers  carried  oif  and  burned  by  the  Iroquois, 
thoy  will  tliink  it  a  punishment  for  not  settling 
old  (leljts,  and  ])iiying  over  the  beaver-skins."  ^  "'  I 
wish,"  he  adds,  "  they  would  send  somebody  to 
look  after  their  affairs  here.  I  would  ii'ladlv  <''ive 
hinr  the  same  lodging  and  entertainment  as  my 
own." 

Another  matter  gave  him  great  annoyance.  This 
was  the  virtual  independence  of  IMonti-ejd  ;  and 
hero,  if  nowhere  else,  he  and  the  l)ishop  Avere  of 
the  same  mind.  On  one  occasion  he  made  a  visit 
to  the  place  in  question,  where  he  expected  to  be 
reeoived  as  governor-general;  but  the  local  gov- 
ernor, Maisonueuve,  declined,  or  at  least  postponed, 
to  take  his  orders  and  give  him  the  keys  of  the 
fort.  Argenson  accordingly  speaks  of  Montreal  as 
"a  place  which  makes  so  much  noise,  Init  which  is 

1  Papitrs  d'Aiyenson,  21  Oct.,  1009. 


II- 


n  ■■ 


118 


LAVAL  AND  AVAUGOUR. 


[1G58-03. 


of  such  small  account."  ^  lie  adds  that,  hesides 
Avanthig  to  ho  independent,  the  Montrealists  Avaiit 
to  monopolize  the  fur  trade,  Avhich  would  cause 
civil  war ;  and  that  the  king  ought  to  interpose  to 
correct  their  obstinacy. 

In  another  letter  he  complains  of  Aillebout,  who 
had  preceded  him  in  the  government,  though  him- 
self a  Montrealist.  Argenson  says  that,  on  goiiif 
out  to  fight  the  Iroquois,  he  left  Aillebout  at  Que- 
bec, to  act  as  his  lieutenant ;  that,  instead  of  (Toini: 
so,  he  had  assumed  to  govern  in  his  own  right; 
that  he  had  taken  possession  of  his  absent  supe- 
rior's furniture,  drawn  his  pay,  and  in  other 
respects  behaved  as  if  he  never  exjDccted  to  see 
him  again.  ^'  When  I  returned,"  continues  the 
governor,  "  I  made  him  director  in  the  council, 
W'ithout  pay,  as  there  As'as  none  to  give  him.  It 
w\as  this,  1  think,  that  made  him  remove  to  Mon- 
treal, for  which  I  do  not  care,  provided  the  glory 
of  our  Master    uffer  no  prejudice  thereby."^ 

These  extracts  may,  perhaps,  give  an  unjust 
impression  of  Argenson,  who,  from  the  general 
tenor  of  his  letters,  appears  to  have  been  a  tem- 
perate and  reasonable  person.  His  patience  and  his 
nervous  system  seem,  however,  to  have  been  taxed 
to  the  utmost.  His  pay  could  not  support  him. 
^'  The  costs  of  living  here  are  horrible,"  he  writes. 
"  I  have  only  two  thousand  crowns  a  year  for  all 
my  expenses,  and  I  have  already  been  forced  to 


1  Pnpiers  d'Arfjcnsnn,  4  Aoiit,  1059. 

'^  Ihid,     Double  de  la  Icttre  escripte  par  le  Vai'sseau  dit  Golgiieur,  parti  It 
6  Septembre  (1658). 


11 


1658-59.] 


TROUBLES  OF  ARGENSON. 


119 


run  into  debt  to  the  company  to  an  equal  amount."  ^ 
Part  of  liis  scanty  income  was  derived  from  a 
iishery  of  eels,  on  wulch  sundry  persons  had  en- 
croached, to  his  great  detriment.^  "  I  see  no  rea- 
son," he  adds, ''  for  staj'ing  here  any  longer.  When 
I  came  to  this  country,  I  hoped  to  enjoy  a  little 
repose,  but  I  am  doubly  deprived  of  it;  on  one 
hand  by  enemies  without,  and  incessant  petty  dis- 
putes within ;  and,  on  the  other,  by  tlie  difficulty 
T  find  in  subsisting.  The  profits  of  the  fur  trade 
have  been  so  reduced  that  all  the  inhabitants  :  r e 
in  tlie  greatest  poverty.  They  are  all  insolvent, 
and  cannot  pay  the  merchants  their  advances." 

His  disgust  a.t  length  reached  a  crisis.  ''  I  am 
resolved  to  stay  here  no  longer,  but  to  go  home 
next  year.  My  horror  of  dissension,  and  the  mani- 
fest certainty  of  becoming  involved  in  disputes 
with  certain  persons  with  whom  I  am  unwilling  to 
quarrel,  oblige  me  to  anticipate  these  troubles,  and 
seek  some  way  of  living  in  peace.  These  excessive 
fatigues  are  far  too  much  for  my  strength.  I  am 
writing  to  Monsieur  the  President,  and  to  the  gen- 
tlemen of  the  Company  of  New  France,  to  choose 
some  other  man  for  this  government."  ^  And  again, 
"if  you  take  any  interest  in  this  country,  see  that 
the  person  chosen  to  command  here  has,  besides  the 
true  piety  necessary  to  a  Christian  in  every  condi- 
tion of  life,  great  firmness  of  character  and  btrong 
bodily  health.     I  assure  you  that  without  these 


im  ■ 
mil' 

I 

r 

'lii'. 

m 


■p. 


'  IhUl.     Lpftvf  a  M.  (}(•  i\forfin(ji,  5  Sept.,  1058. 

'^  /J^ihprafinns  de  hi  Coinpn(fiiip  dc  la  Nouvdie.  France, 

3  Pnpicrs  d'Ar/jcnson.     Liftre  a  son  Fiere,  1059. 


120 


LAVAL  AND  AVAUGOUR. 


[1C61. 


qualities  lie  cannot  succeed.  Besides,  it  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  that  he  should  be  a  man  of  prop- 
erty and  of  some  rank,  so  that  he  will  not  Ijc 
despised  for  humble  birth,  or  suspected  of  coiniivr 
here  to  make  his  fortune ;  for  in  that  case  he  can 
do  no  good  whatever."  ^ 

His  constant  friction  with  the  head  of  the  chiircli 
distressed  the  pious  governor,  and  made  his  recnll 
doubly  a  relief.  According  to  a  contemporary 
writer,  Laval  was  the  means  of  delivering  him  from 
the  burden  of  government,  having  written  to  tlie 
President  Lamoignon  to  urge  his  removal.^  l]^: 
this  as  it  may,  it  is  certain  that  the  bishop  was  not 
sorry  to  be  rid  of  1:    n. 

The  Baron  Dubois  d'Avaugour  arrived  to  take 
his  place.  He  was  an  old  soldier  of  forty  years' 
service,^  blunt,  imperative,  and  sometimes  obsti- 
nate to  pcrverseness ;  but  full  of  energy,  and  of 
a  probity  which  even  his  enemies  confessed.  '•  He 
served  a  long  time  in  Germany  while  you  were 
there,"  writes  the  minister  Colberi  to  the  Marquis 
de  Tracy,  "  and  you  must  have  known  his  talents, 
as  well  as  his  hizarre  and  somewhat  impracticable 
temper."  On  landing,  he  would  have  no  recep- 
tion, being,  as  Father  Lalemant  observes,  ••  an 
enemy  of  all  ceremony."  He  went,  however, 
to  see  the  Jesuits,  and  *^  took  a  morsel  of  food  in 
our  refectory."  ^     Laval  was  prepared  to  receive 

1  Ibid,  r.dfre  (a  sou  Frerc?),  4  Nov.,  1G60.  The  originals  of  Argen- 
eon's  letters  were  destroyed  in  the  burning  of  the  library  of  the  Louvre 
by  the  ('otnniune. 

-  Laclienaye,  Mt^inolrc  sur  le  Canada. 

8  Avaugour,  Mffnioire,  4  Aoiit,  1663. 

*  Lalemant,  Journal  dcs  Jc'suites,  Sept.,  1661. 


GGI-02.] 


THE   BRANDY   QUAKUEL. 


121 


liiin  with  all  solemnity  at  the  church ;  but  the 
liovernor  would  not  go.  He  soon  set  out  on  a  tour 
of  observation  as  far  as  Montreal,  whence  he  re- 
turned delighted  witli  the  country,  and  innnediately 
wrote  to  Colbert  in  high  praise  of  it,  observing 
that  the  St.  Lawrence  was  the  most  beautiful  river 
he  had  ever  seen.^ 

It  was  clear  from  the  first  that,  Avhile  he  had  a 
prepossession  against  the  bishop,  he  wished  to  be 
on  good  terms  with  the  Jesuits.  He  began  l)y 
placing  some  of  them  on  the  council ;  l)ut  they  and 
Laval  were  too  closely  nnited  ;  and  if  Avaugour 
thouglit  to  separate  them,  he  signally  failed.  A  few 
months  only  had  elapsed  when  we  lind  it  noted  in 
Father  Lalemant's  private  journal  that  the  governor 
\m\  dissolved  tlu  council  and  appointed  a  new  one, 
and  that  other  "  changes  and  troubles  "  had  l^efallen. 
The  inevitable  quarrel  had  broken  out;  it  Avas  a 
complex  one,  but  the  chief  occasion  of  dispute  was 
fortunate  for  the  ecclesiastics,  since  it  placed  them, 
to  a  certain  degree,  morally  in  the  right. 

The  question  at  issue  w'as  not  new.  It  had 
agitated  the  colony  for  years,  and  had  been  the 
spring  of  some  of  Argenson's  many  troubles.  Nor 
(lid  it  cease  with  Avaugour,  for  we  shall  trace  its 
course  hereafter,  tumultuous  as  a  tornado.  It  was 
simply  the  temperance  question ;  not  as  regards 
the  colonists,  though  here,  too,  there  was  great 
room  for  reform,  but  as  regards  the  Indians. 

Their  inordinate  passion  for  brandy  had  long 
been  the  source  of  excessive  disorders.    They  drank 

'  Lettre  d'Ava.ujour  an  Ministre,  16G1. 


i^r: 


Jill..-. 


I'm'' 


'I 


122 


LAVAL  AND  AVAUGOUR. 


[1061-02. 


I 


expressly  to  get  drunk,  and  when  dnmk  tliey  wore 
like  wild  beasts.  Crime  and  violence  of  all  sorts 
ensued ;  the  priests  saw  their  teachings  despised 
and  their  flocks  ruined.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
sale  of  brandy  was  a  chief  source  of  profit,  direct 
or  indirect,  to  all  those  interested  in  the  fur  trade. 
including  the  principal  persons  of  the  colony.  In 
Argenson's  time,  Laval  launched  an  excommunica- 
tion a^i^ainst  those  eno^aii-ed  in  the  abhorred  traflic; 
for  nothing  less  than  total  prohibition  would  eon- 
tent  the  clerical  party,  and  besides  the  spiritual 
penalty,  they  demanded  the  punishment  of  death 
against  the  contumacious  offender.  Death,  in 
fact,  was  decreed.  Such  was  the  posture  of  aftaits 
when  Avaugour  arrived ;  and,  willing  as  he  was  to 
conciliate  the  Jesuits,  he  permitted  the  decree  to 
take  effect,  although,  it  seems,  with  great  repug- 
nance. A  few  Aveeks  after  his  arrival,  two  men 
w^ere  shot  and  one  whipped,  for  selling  briuidy 
to  Indians.^  An  extreme  though  partially  sup- 
pressed excitement  shook  the  entire  settlement, 
for  most  of  the  colonists  were,  in  one  degree  or 
another,  implicated  in  the  offence  thus  punished. 
An  explosion  soon  followed ;  and  the  occasion  of 
it  was  the  humanity  or  good-nature  of  the  Jesuit 
Lalemant. 

A  woman  had  been  condemned  to  imprisonment 
for  the  same  cause,  and  Lalemant,  moved  by  com- 
passion, came  to  the  governor  to  intercede  for  her. 
Avaugour  could  no  longer  contain  himself,  and 
answered  the  reverend  petitioner  with  character- 

1  Journal  des  J^suites,  Oct.,  1661. 


K501-O2.] 


THE  BRANDY  QUARREL. 


123 


istic  blimtnes.s.  "  You  and  joiir  brethren  -were 
the  first  to  cry  out  against  the  trade,  and  now  you 
wai:t  to  save  the  traders  from  punishment.  I  will 
no  longer  be  the  sport  of  your  contradictions. 
Since  it  is  not  a  crime  for  this  woman,  it  shall  not 
he  n  crime  for  anybody."  ^  And  in  this  posture 
he  stood  fast,  with  an  inflexible  stubbornness. 

Henceforth  there  Avas  full  license  to  liquor  deal- 
ers. A  violent  reaction  ensued  against  the  past 
restriction,  and  brandy  flowed  freely  among  French 
ami  Indians  alike.  The  ungodly  drank  to  spite 
the  priests  and  revenge  themselves  for  the  "  con- 
straint of  consciences,"  of  which  they  loudly  com- 
plained. The  utmost  confusion  followed,  and  the 
principles  on  which  the  pious  colony  was  built 
seemed  upheaved  from  the  foundation.  Laval  was 
distracted  with  grief  and  anger.  He  outpoured 
himself  from  the  pulpit  in  threats  of  divine  wrath, 
and  launched  fresh  excommunications  against  the 
offenders ;  but  such  was  the  popular  fury,  that  he 
was  forced  to  yield  and  revoke  them.^ 

Disorder  grew  from  bad  to  worse.  "  Men  gave 
no  heed  to  bishop,  preacher,  or  confessor,"  writes 
Father  Charlevoix.  ^'  The  French  have  despised 
the  remonstrances  of  our  prelate,  because  they  are 
supported  by  the  civil  power,"  says  the  superior  of 
the  Ursulines.  "  He  is  almost  dead  with  grief, 
and  pines  away  before  our  eyes." 

Laval  could  bear  it  no  longer,  but  sailed  for 

'  La  Tour,  Vie  de  Laval,  Liv.  V. 

^  Journal  dfs  J^suites,  Fib.,  1G62.  Tlie  sentence  of  excommunication 
is  printed  in  the  Appendix  to  the  Esqidsse  d"  la  Vie  de  Laval,  It  hears 
date  February  2-4.    It  wa?  on  this  vciy  day  that  he  was  forced  to  revoke  it. 


■«'■ 

'it;  ^ 


'% 

'!»•• 


m- 


124 


LAVAL  AND  AVAUGOUR. 


[1G02-63. 


\th    '■'    m 


France,  to  lay  hh  com])laints  before  the  court,  ain] 
urge  the  removal  of  Aviiugoiir.  He  had,  hcside^. 
two  other  important  objects,  as  will  appear  Ikmv- 
after.  Ilis  absence  brought  no  improvement. 
Summer  and  autumn  passed,  and  the  coniniotion 
did  not  abate.  Winter  was  drawing  to  a  closo. 
when,  at  length,  outraged  Heaven  interposed  nu 
awful  warning  to  the  guilty  colony. 

Scarcely  had  the  bishop  left  his  Hock  Avlieii  tlio 
skies  grew  portentous  with  signs  of  the  chastisoiiK'nt 
to  couie.  ''  We  beheld,"  gravely  Avrites  Fntlur 
Lalemant,  "  blazing  serpents  which  flew^  thiouuli 
the  air,  borne  on  wings  of  fire.  We  beheld  above 
Quebec  a  great  globe  of  flame,  which  lighted  up 
the  night,  and  threw  out  sparks  on  all  sides.  Tlii< 
same  meteor  appeared  above  Montreal,  where  it 
seemed  to  issue  from  the  bosom  of  the  moon,  witli 
a  noise  as  loud  as  cannon  or  thunder,  and  after 
sailing  three  leagues  through  the  air  it  disappeared 
behind  the  mountain  Avhereof  this  island  bears  tlio 
name." ' 

Still  greater  marvels  followed.  First,  a  Christian 
Algonquin  squaw%  described  as  "  innocent,  simjile, 
and  sincere,"  being  seated  erect  in  bed,  wide  awake, 
by  the  side  of  her  husband,  in  the  night  between 
the  fourth  and  fifth  of  February,  distinctly  heard  a 
voice  saying,  "Strange  things  will  happen  to-day; 
the  earth  will  quake  !  "  In  great  alarm  she  wliis- 
pered  the  prodigy  to  her  husband,  who  told  lier 
that  she  lied.  This  sileiijced  her  for  a  time;  but 
wdien,  the  next  morning,  she  went  into  the  forest 

1  Lalemunt,  Relation,  1663,  2. 


time.     "  Let 


1063.] 


PORTKNTS. 


125 


witli  her  liatchct  to  cut  a  faggot  of  wood,  tlie  same 
dread  voice  resounded  through  the  soUtude,  and 
sent  her  back  in  teri'or  to  her  hut.^ 

These  things  were  as  nothing  compared  with 
the  lUMi'vel  that  befell  a  nun  of  the  hospital,  Mother 
Catherine  de  Saint-Augustin,  who  (hed  live  years 
later,  in  the  odor  of  sanctity.  On  the  night  of  the 
fourth  of  February,  1G63,  she  beheld  in  the  spirit 
four  furious  demons  at  tlie  four  corners  of  Quebec, 
shaking  it  with  a  violence  which  plainly  showed 
their  ])urpose  of  reducing  it  to  ruins;  '"and  this 
they  would  have  done,"  says  the  story,  "if  a  per- 
sonage of  admirable  beauty  and  ravishing  majesty 
[Clirist~\,  whom  she  saw  in  the  midst  of  them,  and 
Avho,  from  time  to  time,  gave  rein  to  their  fury,  had 
not  restrained  tliem  when  they  were  on  the  point 
of  accomplishing  their  wicked  design."  She  also 
heard  the  conversation  of  these  demons,  to  the 
effect  that  people  were  now  well  frightened,  and 
iiiaiiy  would  be  converted  ;  but  this  would  not  last 
long,  and  they,  the  demons,  v.'ould  have  them  in 
tune.  "  Let  us  keep  on  shakir\g,"  they  cried,  en- 
couraging each  other,  "  and  do  our  best  to  upset 
every  thin^c."  ^ 

Now,  to  pass  from  visions  to  facts  :  "  At  half-past 
five  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  fifth,"  writes 
Father  Lalemant,  "a  great  ro(  ring  sound  was 
heard  at  the  same  time  through  the  whole  extent 

'  Lalemant,  Relation,  1663,  6. 

2  Ka,i,ni?M€au,  Vic  de  Catherine  dp  St.  Aufjustin,  Liv.  IV,  chp.p.  i.  The 
same  story  is  told  by  Jucliereaii,  Lalemant,  and  Marie  de  i  Incarnation, 
to  wlioin  Cliarlevoix  erroneously  ascribes  the  vision,  as  Joes  also  the 
Abbe  La  Tour.  '      '    , 


i3?:f 


1185,:: 
iHii., 

ill!;. 


f. 


12G 


LAVAL  AND   AVAUGOUU. 


llfiC3. 


•I! 

h 


of  Canada.  This  sound,  which  produced  an  cllV'ct 
as  if  the  liouscs  wore  on  lire,  hrou<i,"ht  c'vt'i'\  hudv 
out  of  doors  ;  hut  instead  of  seeing  smoke  and  llamo, 
they  were  amazed  to  hehold  the  walls  shMkiiiLi',aii(l 
all  the  stones  moving  as  if  they  would  drop  from 
their  places.  The  houses  seemed  to  hend  llist  to 
one  side  and  then  to  the  other.  Bells  sounded  of 
themselves;  heanis,  joists,  and  planks  cracki'd ; 
the  gi'ound  heaved,  making  the  pickets  of  thu 
palisades  dance  in  a  way  that  would  have  s('('nK.'(l 
incredible   had  we  not  seen  it  in  divers  ])la('cs. 

"Everybody   was  in  the   streets;    animals  ran 

wildly  about ;    children   cried ;   men  and  woiiicii. 

seized  with  fright,  knew  not  where  to  take  refuge, 

expecting  every  moment  to  be  buried  inidcr  the 

ruins  of  the  houses,  or  swallowed  up  in  some  abyss 

oi)ening  under  their  feet.     Some,  on  their  knees  in 

the   snow,  cried  for  mercy,  and  others  passed  llii' 

night   in  prayer ;    for   the    earthquake   contiiuicd 

without  ceasing,  wdth  a  motion  much  like  that  of 

a  ship  at  sea,  insomuch  that  sundry  persons  felt  tlii' 

same  qualms  of  stomach  which  they  would  feel  uii 

the  water.     In  the  forests  the  connnotion  was  far 

greater.    The  trees  struck  one  against  the  other  as 

if  there  were  a  battle  between  them  ;*and  you  would 

have  said  that  not  only  their  branches,  but  even 

their  trunks  started  out  of  their  places  and  leaped 

on  each  other  with  such  noise  and  confusion  that 

the  Indians  said  that  the  whole  forest  was  drunk." 

Mary  of  the  Incarnation  gives  a  similar  account, 

as  does  also  Frances  Juchereau  de  Saint-lgnace; 

and  these  contemporary  records  are  sustained  to 


1668.] 


TIIK    EAirrHQUAKi:. 


127 


i-oino  extent  l)y  the  evidence  of  geology.'  A  re- 
iiiaikiihle  effect  was  produced  on  the  St.  Lawrence, 
wliicli  was  so  charged  with  mud  and  clay  that  for 
iiiiinv  weeks  the  water  was  inifit  to  di'inU.  Con- 
siderable hills  and  large  tracts  of  forest  slid  from 
tlioir  places,  some  into  the  river,  and  some  into 
adjiicent  valleys.  A  number  of  men  in  a  boat  near 
Tiidoussac  stiired  aghast  at  a  large  hill  covered 
^vitll  trees,  which  sank  into  the  water  before  their 
eves;  streams  were  turned  from  their  courses; 
uatcr-falls  were  levelled  ;  s})rings  were  dried  up  in 
some  ])laces,  while  in  others  new  springs  appeared. 
Nevertheless,  the  accounts  that  luive  come  down  to 
us  seem  a  little  exaggerated,  and  sometimes  ludi- 
crously so ;  as  when,  for  example.  Mother  Mary  of 
the  Incarnation  tells  ns  of  a  man  who  ran  all  night 
to  escape  from  a  fissure  in  the  earth  which  opened 
Iji'liiiid  Inm  and  chased  him  as  he  lied. 

It  is  perhaps  needless  to  say  that  "  spectres  and 
phantoms  of  lire,  bearing  torches  in  their  hands," 
took  part  in  tlie  convulsion.  ''  The  fiery  figure  of 
a  man  vomiting  flame.^'  "  also  appeared  in  the  air, 
Avitli  many  other  apparitions  too  numerous  to  men- 
tion. It  is  recorded  that  three  young  men  were  on 
their  way  through  the  forest  to  sell  brandy  to  the 
Indians,  when  one  of  them,  a  little  in  advance  of 
the  rest,  was  met  by  a  hideous  spectre  which  nearly 

'  Professor  Sterry  Hunt,  whose  iiUiinate  knowledj^e  of  Canadian 
peoloiry  is  well  known,  tells  me  that  the  shores  of  the  St.  Lawrenee  are  to  a 
jireat  extent  formed  of  heds  of  f,n-avel  and  clay  restiiif;  on  inclined  strata 
of  rock,  so  that  eartii-slides  would  he  the  necessary  result  of  any  convul- 
fiim  liki'  that  of  ItJGS.  Ue  adds  tliat  the  evidence  that  such  slides  have 
taken  plnce  on  a  j^reat  scale  is  very  distinct  at  various  points  along  the 
river,  especially  at  Les  Eboulemeus,  on  the  north  shore. 


H: 


lllJ.' 
ill!, 


III!;; 

Ill, 

Itlii. 

Illtir 


I!!-- 

% 
If 

tl:i 


%■ 


:•'  / 


/' 


S':V^ 


128 


LAVAL  AND  AVAUGOUR. 


[16C3 


killed  him  with  fright.  He  had  scarcely  strength 
enough  to  rejoin  his  companions,  who,  seeing  his 
terror,  began  to  laugh  at  him.  One  of  them,  how- 
ever, presently  came  to  his  senses,  and  said :  -  This 
is  no  laughing  matter;  we  are  going  to  sell  liquor  to 
the  Indians  against  the  prohibitions  of  the  church. 
and  perhaps  God  means  to  punish  our  disobedi- 
ence." On  this  they  all  turned  back.  That  night 
they  had  scan^ely  lain  down  to  sleep  Avhcn  the 
earthquake  roused  them,  and  they  ran  out  of  their 
hut  just  in  time  to  escape  being  swallowed  up  along 
with  it.^ 

With  every  allowance,  it  is  clear  that  the  con- 
vulsion must  have  been  a  severe  one,  and  it  is 
remarkable  that  in  all  Canada  not  a  life  was  lost, 
The  writers  of  the  day  see  in  this  a  proof  that  God 
meant  to  rcvolaim  the  guilt}^  and  not  destroy  tlieni. 
At  Quebec  there  was  for  the  time  an  intens^e  re- 
vival of  reli:nori.  The  end  of  the  world  was  thouuht 
to  be  at  hand,  and  -everybody  made  ready  for  the 
last  judgment.  Repentant  throngs  beset  confes- 
sionals and  altars ;  enemies  were  reconciled  ;  fasts, 
prayers,  and  penances  fdled  the  whole  season  of 
Lent.  Yet,  as  we  shall  see,  the  devil  could  stih 
find  wherewith  to  console  himself. 

It  was  midsummer  before  the  shocks  wholly 
ceased  and  the  earth  resumed  her  wonted  eiilni. 
An  extreme  drought  was  followed  by  floods  ul 
rain,   and   then  Nature   began   her  sure  work  of 

1  Mnrie  de  rincfirjiation,  J.cttre  iht  20  AmV,  IGCiS.  It  appeal's  fnmi 
Morton,  .losst'Iyn,  antl  oilier  writt-rs,  tliat  tlie  ('artliquako  c'xt(.'iulc.'il  to  Nt* 
En^fland  and  New  Netherlands,  producing  shnilar  effects  on  tlio  imagi- 
nation of  the  i)eoplo. 


1663.] 


AVAUGOUR  RECALLED, 


129 


reparation.  It  was  about  tliis  time  that  the  thorn 
Avliich  had  plagued  the  church  was  at  length 
plucked  out.  Avaugour  was  summoned  home. 
He  took  his  recall  with  magnanimity,  and  on  his 
way  wrote  at  Gaspe  a  memorial  to  Colbert,  in 
which  he  commends  New  France  to  the  attention 
of  the  king.  "  The  St.  Lawrence,"  he  says,  "  is 
the  entrance  to  what  may  be  made  the  greatest 
state  in  the  Avorld ; "  and,  in  liis  purely  military 
way,  he  recounts  the  means  of  realizing  this 
grand  possibihty.  Three  thousand  soldiers  should 
l3e  sent  to  the  colony,  to  be  discharged  and  turned 
into  settlers  after  three  years  of  service.  During 
these  three  years  they  may  make  Quel)ec  an  im- 
pregnable fortress,  subdue  the  Iroquois,  build  a 
strong  fort  on  the  river  where  the  Dutch  have 
a  iiaserable  wooden  redoubt,  called  Fort  Orange 
[Albany'],  and  finally  open  a  way  by  that  river  to 
the  sea.  Thus  the  heretics  will  be  driven  out,  and 
tlie  king  will  be  master  of  America,  at  a  total  cost 
of  about  four  hundred  thousand  francs  yearly  for 
ton  years.  He  closes  his  memorial  by  a  short  allu- 
sion to  the  charges  against  him,  and  to  his  forty 
years  of  faitliful  service ;  and  concludes,  speaking 
of  the  authors  of  his  recall,  Laval  and  the  Jesuits  : 
"  By  reason  of  the  respect  I  owe  their  cloth,  1  will 
rest  content,  monseigneur,  with  assuring  you  that 
1  have  not  only  served  the  king  with  fidelity,  but 
also,  by  the  grace  of  God,  with  very  good  success, 
considering  the  means  at  my  disposal."^  He  had, 
in  truth,  borne  himself  as  a  brave  and  experienced 

*  Avaugour,  Mtfinoire,  Gaap^,  4  Aout,  1663. 


1 1 


i<<. 


ill 


130 


LAVAL  AND  AVAUGOUR. 


[1663, 


soldier;  and  he  soon  after  died  a  soldier's  death, 
while  defending  the  fortress  of  Zrin,  in  Croatia, 
against  the  Turks.^ 

1  Lettre  de  Colbert  au  Marquis  de  Tracy,  1064.     Mimoire  da  Roy,  pour 
aervir  d' instruction  au  Sieur  Talon. 


Peronne  Dumesn: 
The  New  Coui 

LUES. —Esc  A  PI 


CHAPTER  Vn. 


1661-1664. 


LAVAL  AND  DUMESNIL 


!l!i. 


Feronxe  Ddmesnil.  —  The  Old  CounciI/.  —  Alleged  Murder.  — 
TiiK  New  Council  — Bouhdox  and  Villeray.  —  Strong  Meas- 

UKKS.  —  ESOPE    OF    DuMESNIL.  —  VlEWS  OF   COLBERT. 

Though  the  proposals  of  Avaugour's  memorial 
were  not  adopted,  it  seems  to  have  produced  a 
strong  impression  at  court.  For  this  impression 
the  minds  of  the  king  and  his  minister  had  already 
been  prepared.  Two  years  before,  the  inhabitants 
of  Canada  had  sent  one  of  their  number,  Pierre 
Boucher,  to  represent  their  many  grievances  and 
ask  for  aid.^  Boucher  had  had  an  audience  of  the 
young  king,  who  listened  with  interest  to  his  state- 
ments ;  and  when  in  the  following  yearjie  returned 
to  Quebec,  he  was  accompanied  by  an  officer  named 
Duuiont,  who  had  under  his  command  a  hundred 
soldiers  for  the  colony,  and  was  commissioned  to 
report  its   condition  and  resources.^     The  move- 


B 


I 


'  To  promote  the  objects  of  his  mission,  Tioucher  wrote  a  little  hook, 
Histoire  Vtfritnlile  et  Ndtiirelle  des  Manrs  et  Productions  du  Pai/s  de  la  NoU' 
vdle  Fianrp.     He  dedicates  it  to  Colbert. 

^  A  long  journal  of  Dumont  is  printed  anonymously  in  the  Relation 

Of  icca. 


i 


132 


LAVAL  AND  DUMESNIL. 


[1060-63 


ment  seemed  to  betoken  that  the  government  was 
wakening  at  last  from  its  long  inaction. 

Meanwhile  the  Company  of  New  France,  feudal 
lord  of  Canada,  had  also  shown  signs  of  returninfi- 
life.  Its  whole  history  had  been  one  of  inisliap. 
followed  by  discouragement  and  apathy ;  and  it  k 
difficult  to  say  whether  its  ownership  of  Canada 
had  been  more  hurtful  to  itseK  or  o  the  rolonv. 
At  the  eleventh  hour  it  sent  out  an  agent  invested 
with  poAvers  of  conti'oHer-general,  intendant,  and 
supreme  judge,  to  inquire  into  the  state  of  its 
affairs.  This  agent,  Peronne  Dumesnil,  ari\,od 
early  in  the  autumn  of  1660,  and  set  himself  ^vith 
grciit  vigor  to  his  Avork.  He  was  an  advocate  of 
the  Parliament  of  Paris,  an  active,  aggressive,  and 
tenacious  person,  of  a  temper  Avell  fitted  to  rip  np 
an  old  abuse  or  probe  a  delinquency  to  the  bottom. 
His  proceedings  quickly  raised  a  storm  at  Queljec. 

It  may  be  remembered  that,  many  years  l)efore, 
the  company  had  ceded  its  monopoly  of  the  fur 
trade  to  the  inlial)itants  of  the  colony,  in  cous^idera- 
tion  of  that  annual  payment  in  beaver-skins  Avhicli 
had  been  so  tardily  and  so  rarely  made.  The  direc- 
tion of  the  trade  had  at  that  time  been  placed  in 
the  hands  of  a  council  composed  of  the  governor, 
the  superior  of  the  Jesuits,  and  several  other  mem- 
bers. Various  changes  had  since  taken  place,  and 
the  trade  was  now  controlled  by  another  council. 
established  without  the  consent  of  the  companv.' 
and  composed  of  the  principal  persons  in  the  col- 
ony.    The  mendjers  of  this  council,  with  certain 

1  Registres  du  Conseil  du  Roy ;  Reponse  a  la  requeste  presentde  au  Roy, 


1660-63.  J 


MONOPOLISTS. 


100 
00 


prominent  merchants  in  league  with  them,  en- 
(rrossed  all  the  trade,  so  that  the  inhabitants  at 
lar<»-e  profited  nothing  by  the  right  whicli  the  com- 
pany had  ceded  ;  ^  and  as  the  councillors  controlled 
not  only  the  trade  but  all  the  financial  affairs  of 
Caiiado,  while  the  remoteness  of  their  scene  of 
operations  made  it  difficult  to  supervise  them,  they 
were  able,  wi^h  little  risk,  to  pursue  their  own 
profit,  to  the  detriment  both  of  the  company  and 
the  colony.  They  and  their  allies  formed  a  petty 
trading  oligarchy,  as  pernicious  to  the  prosperity  of 
Canada  as  the  Iroquois  war  itself. 

The  company,  always  anxious  for  its  beaver- 
skins,  made  several  attempts  to  control  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  councillors  and  call  thein  to  account, 
but  with  little  success,  till  the  vigorous  Dumesnil 
undertook  the  task,  Avhen,  to  their  wrath  and  con- 
sternation, they  and  their  friends  found  themselves 
attacked  by  wholesale  accusations  of  fraud  and  em- 
bezzlement. That  these  charges  were  exaggerated 
there  can  be  little  doubt ;  that  they  were  unfounded 
is  incredible,  in  view  of  the  effect  they  produced. 

The  councillors  refused  to  acknowdedge  Dumes- 
nir.s  powers  as  controller,  intendant,  and  judge,  and 
dechu'ed  his  proceedings  null.  He  retorted  by 
chai'ging  them  with  usurpation.  The  excitement 
ineroased,  and  Dumesnil's  life  was  threatened. 

lie  had  tw^o  sons  in  the  colony.  One  of  them, 
Peronne  de  Maze,  was  secretary  to  Avaugour,  then 
on  his  w\ay  up  the  St.  Lawrence  to  assiune  the 


Hi: 


'  Anvt  (In  Conml  (VElat,!  Marii,\^)()l .    Also  Pojile.rs  d'Argenson,  and 
Exlrait  dcs  lierjistres  da  Conseil  d'Elat,  15  MaiSf  lOoG. 


134 


LAVAL  AND  DIJMESNIL. 


[16C1. 


government.  The  other,  Peronne  ties  ToncLes, 
was  with  his  father  at  Quebec.  Towards  the  end 
of  August  this  young  man  was  attacked  in  the 
street  in  broad  daylight,  and  received  a  kick  which 
proved  fatal.  He  was  carried  to  his  father's  house, 
where  he  died  on  the  twenty-ninth.  Dumesnil 
charges  four  persons,  all  of  whom  were  among 
those  inlo  whose  affairs  he  had  been  prying,  with 
having  taken  part  in  the  outrage ;  but  it  is  very 
uncertain  who  was  the  immediate  cause  of  Des 
Touches's  death.  Dumesnil,  himself  the  supreme 
judicial  officer  of  the  colony,  made  complaint  to 
the  judge  in  ordinary  of  the  company;  but  he  says 
that  justice  was  refused,  the  complaint  suppressed 
by  authority,  his  allegations  torn  in  pieces,  and  the 
whole  affair  hushed.^ 

At  the  time  of  the  murder,  Dumesnil  was  con- 
fined to  his  house  by  illness.  An  attempt  was  made 
to  rouse  the  mob  against  him,  by  reports  that  he 
had  come  to  the  colony  for  the  purpose  of  laying 
taxes ;  but  he  sent  for  some  of  the  excited  inhab- 
itants, and  succeeded  in  convincing  them  that  he 
was  their  champion  rather  than  their  enemy.  Some 
Indians  in  the  neighborhood  were  also  instigated 
to  kill  him,  and  he  was  forced  to  conciliate  them 
by  presents. 

1  Dumesnil,  JSf^moire.  Under  date  August  31  the  Journal  des  .Umta 
makes  this  brief  and  guarded  mention  of  tlie  affair:  "  Le  fils  de  Mons, 
du  Mesnil  .  .  .  fut  enterre  le  niesme  iour,  tud  d'vn  coup  de  pie  i)ar  N" 
Who  is  meant  by  N,  it  is  difficult  to  say.  The  register  of  the  parish 
church  records  the  burial  as  follows  :  — 

"L'an  1661.  Le  30  Aoust  a  estc  enterrd  au  Cemetiere  de  Quc1)eo 
Michel  peronne  dit  Sr.  des  Touches  fils  de  Mr.  du  Mesnil  decode  le  Jour 
precedent  a  sa  Maison." 


1662-03.] 


THE  NEW  GOVERNMENT. 


135 


He  soon  renewed  his  attacks,  and  in  his  quality 
of  intendant  called  on  the  councillors  and  their 
allies  to  render  their  accounts,  and  settle  the  long 
arrears  of  debt  due  to  the  company.  They  set  his 
demands  at  naught.  The  war  continued  month 
after  month.  It  is  more  than  likely  that  wlien  in 
the  spring  of  1662  Avaugour  dissolved  and  recon- 
structed the  council,  his  action  had  reference  to 
these  disputes ;  and  it  is  clear  that  Avhen  in  the 
following  August  Laval  sailed  for  France,  one  of 
his  objects  was  to  restore  the  tranquillity  which 
Dumesnil's  proceedings  had  disturbed.  There  was 
great  need ;  for,  what  with  these  proceedings  and 
the  quarrel  about  brandy,  Quebec  was  a  little  hell 
of  discord,  the  earthquake  not  having  as  yet  fright- 
ened it  into  propriety. 

The  bishop's  success  at  court  was  triumphant. 
Not  only  did  he  procure  the  removal  of  Avaugour, 
but  he  was  invited  to  choose  a  new  governor  to 
replace  him.^  This  was  not  all ;  for  he  succeeded 
in  effecting  a  complete  change  in  the  government 
of  the  colony.  The  Company  of  New  France  was 
flailed  upon  to  resign  its  claims ;  ^  and,  by  a  royal 
edict  of  April,  1663,  all  power,  legislative,  judicial, 
and  executive,  was  vested  in  a  council  composed 
of  the  governor  whom  Laval  had  chosen,  of  Laval 
himself,  and  of  five  councillors,  an  attorney-gen- 
eral, and  a  secretary,  to  be  chosen  by  Laval  and 
the  governor  jointly.^      Bearing  with  them  blank 

^  La  Tour,  Vie  de  Laval,  Liv.  V. 

*  See  the  doliberatioiis  nnd  acts  to  this  end  in  Edits  et  Ordonnancea 
mcermtnt  Ic.  Canada,  I.  ;]0-82. 

*  Edit  de  Creation  da  Conseil  Sttp^neur  de  Quebec. 


■I- 


14 
'id' 


136 


LAVAL  AND  DUMESNIL. 


[1663. 


1663.] 


commissions  to  be  filled  with  the  names  of  the  new 
functionaries,  Laval  and  his  governor  sailed  for 
Quebec,  where  they  landed  on  the  fifteenth  of 
September.  With  them  came  one  Gaudais-Dupont 
a  rojal  commissioner  instructed  to  inquire  into  the 
state  of  the  colony. 

No  sooner  had  they  arrived  than  Laval  and 
Mezy,  the  new  governor,  proceeded  to  construct  the 
new  council.  Mezy  knew  nobody  in  the  colony, 
and  was,  at  this  time,  completely  under  Laval's 
influence.  The  nominations,  therefore,  were  vir- 
tually made  by  the  bishop  alone,  in  whose  hands, 
and  not  in  those  of  the  governor,  the  blank  com- 
missions had  been  placed.^  Thus  for  the  moment 
he  had  complete  control  of  the  government;  that 
is  to  say,  the  church  was  mistress  of  the  civil 
power. 

Laval  formed  his  council  as  follows :  Jean  Bour- 
don fov  attorney-general ;  Rouer  de  Villeray,  Juch- 
ereau  dt^  la  Ferte,  Ruette  d'Auteuil,  Le  Gardeur 
de  Tilly,  and  Matthieu  Damours  for  councillors; 
and  Peuvret  de  Mesnu  for  secretary.  The  royal 
commissioner,  Gaudais,  also  took  a  prominent  place 
at  the  board  .^  This  functionary  was  on  the  point 
of  marrying  his  niece  to  a  son  of  Robert  Giii'ard, 

1  Commissicn  arfroi/^c  att  Si'eur  Goudnis,  Hf^moire  pcur  servir  d'Tnstntc- 
tion  (III  Sicnr  Gdiidais.  A  sequel  to  these  instructions,  marked  secret, 
sliows  tliat,  notwithstanding  Laval's  extraordinary  success  in  attaining 
liis  objects,  lie  and  tlie  Jesuits  were  soinewliat  distrusted.  Gaudais  is 
directed  to  make,  witii  great  discretion  and  caution,  careful  inquiry  into 
tlie  bislioi)'s  conduct,  and  witli  equal  secrecy  to  ascertain  wliy  tiie  Jesuits 
had  asked  for  Avaugour's  recall. 

'^  As  substitute  for  the  intendant,  an  officer  who  had  been  appointed 
but  who  had  not  arrived. 


who  had  a 
nil's  accusal 
before  the 
them,  and 
Of  those 
enemy  Dun 
persons,"  ai 
them  again 
unle 


u 


were 
all  unable  t 
was,  perhaj 
ecclesiastics 
Canada.  E 
incoinpeten 
him  for  m; 
olfences  the 
cause ;  and 
assertion  of 
cil  express 
the  accusal 
The  two 
received  tl 
Bourdon,  a 

1  Duniesnil 
detect  in  his  lo 
Gaudais  was  Mt 
riedJoseph,  sor 
nil  lui-l  tbrgottei 
Repent igny,  w 
an>ountiiig  to  G 
de  la  P\'rte',  one 

-  Dumesnil 
removing  from 
Bible,  and  the  \ 
selves,  was  a  d( 
get  their  frienc 


1663.] 


THE  COUNCIL. 


137 


who  bad  a  strong  interest  in  suppressing  Dumes- 
mVs  accusations.^  Dumesnil  had  laid  his  statements 
before  the  commissioner,  ^vho  quickly  rejected 
tlicin,  and  took  part  with  the  accused. 

Of  those  appointed  to  the  new  council,  their 
enemy  Dumesnil  says  that  they  were  ''  incapable 
persons,"  and  their  associate  Gaudais,  in  defending 
them  against  wxirse  charges,  declares  that  they 
were  "  unlettered,  of  little  experience,  and  nearly 
call  unable  to  deal  with  affairs  of  importance."  This 
was,  perhaps,  unavoidable ;  for,  except  among  the 
ecclesiastics,  education  was  then  scarcely  known  in 
Canada.  But  if  Laval  may  be  excused  for  putting 
incompetent  men  in  office,  nothing  can  excuse 
him  for  making  men  charged  with  gross  public 
offences  the  prosecutors  and  judges  in  their  own 
cause ;  and  his  course  in  doing  so  gives  color  to  the 
assertion  of  Dumesnil,  that  he  made  up  the  coun- 
cil expressly  to  shield  the  accused  and  smother 
the  accusation.^ 

The  two  persons  under  the  heaviest  charges 
received  the  two  most  important  appointments : 
Bourdon,  attorney-general,  and  Villeray;  keeper  of 

*  Dumesnil  here  ':»<tkes  one  of  the  few  mistakes  I  liave  been  able  to 
detect  in  his  long  memorials.  He  says  that  the  name  of  the  niece  of 
Gaudais  was  Marie  Nan.  It  was,  in  fact,  Michelle- T/ierese  Nou,  who  mar- 
riedJosepli,  son  of  Robert  Gitfard,  on  tlie  2"J(1  of  October,  1003.  Dumes- 
nil iia!  forgotten  tlie  bride's  first  name.  The  elder  Giliiird  was  surety  for 
Repentigny,  wliom  Dumesnil  charged  with  liabilities  to  the  company, 
amounting  to  644,700  livrt's.  Gifliird  was  also  fatiier-in-law  of  Juchereau 
de  la  Ferte,  one  of  the  accused. 

•  Dumesnil  goes  further  than  this,  for  he  plainly  intimates  that  the 
removing  from  power  of  the  companj',  to  whom  the  accussed  were  respon- 
fiible,  and  the  placing  in  power  of  a  council  formed  of  the  accused  them- 
selves, was  a  device  contrived  from  the  first  by  Laval  and  the  Jesuits,  to 
get  their  friends  out  of  trouble. 


138 


LAVAL  AND  DUMESNIL. 


[1G63, 


the  seals.  La  Ferte  was  also  one  of  the  accused.' 
Of  Yilleray,  the  governor  iVrgenson  had  written 
in  1659:  "Some  of  his  qualities  are  good  enoii(rli 
but  confidence  cannot  be  placed  in  him,  on  account 
of  his  instability."  ^  In  the  same  year,  he  liad 
been  ordered  to  France,  "  to  purge  himself  of  sun- 
dry crimes  wherewith  he  stands  charged."^  He 
was  not  yet  free  of  suspicion,  having  returned  to 
Canada  under  an  order  to  make  up  and  render  his 
accounts,  which  he  had  not  yet  done.  Duniesnil 
says  that  he  first  came  to  the  colony  in  1051,  as 
valet  of  the  governor  Lauson,  who  had  taken  liim 
from  the  jail  at  Rochelle,  Avhere  he  was  imprisoned 
for  a  debt  of  seventy-one  francs,  "  as  appears  by 
the  record  of  the  jail  of  date  July  eleventh  in  that 
year."  From  this  modest  beginning  he  became  in 
time  the  richest  man  in  Canada.'*  He  was  stronc:  in 
orthodoxy,  and  an  ardent  supporter  of  the  bishop 
and  the  Jesuits.  He  is  alternately  praised  and 
blamed,  according  to  the  partisan  leanings  of  the 
writer. 


1  Bourdon  is  charged  with  not  having  accounted  for  an  immense 
quantity  of  beaver-skins  wliich  had  passed  through  his  liiiiids  (hiring 
twelve  years  or  more,  and  which  are  valued  at  more  than  300,000  livrts. 
Other  charges  are  made  against  him  in  connection  with  large  sums  bor- 
rowed in  Lauson's  time  on  account  of  the  colony.  In  a  meuioiiiil  ad- 
dressed to  the  king  in  council,  Dumesnil  says  that,  in  1662,  I^ourdon, 
according  to  his  own  accounts,  had  in  his  hands  37,616  livres  belonging 
to  the  conipany,  which  he  still  retained. 

Villeray's  liabilities  arose  out  of  the  unsettled  accounts  of  his  father- 
in-law,  Charles  Sevestre,  and  are  set  down  at  more  than  600,000  livres. 
La  Fertc's  are  of  a  smaller  amount.  Others  of  the  council  were  indi- 
rectly involved  in  the  charges. 

"i  Leftrerl'Arffenson,  20  Nov.,  1669. 

3  Edit  du  Roil,  13  Mai,  1059. 

*  Lettre  de  Colbert  a  Frontenac,  17  Mai,  1674. 


3.] 


STRONG  MEASURES. 


130 


Bourdon,  tliongh  of  humble  origin,  was,  perhaps, 
the  most  intelhgent  man  in  the  comicil.  He  was 
chiefly  known  as  an  engineer,  but  he  had  also  been 
a  baker,  a  painter,  a  syndic  of  the  inhabitants, 
chief  gunner  at  the  fort,  and  collector  of  customs 
for  the  company.  Whether  guilty  of  embezzle- 
ment or  not,  he  was  a  zealous  devotee,  and  would 
probably  have  died  for  his  creed.  Like  Villeray, 
he  was  one  of  Laval's  stanchest  supporters,  while 
the  rest  of  the  council  were  also  sound  in  doctrine 
and  sure  in  allegiance. 

Li  virtue  of  their  new  dignity,  the  accused  now 
chiimed  exemption  from  accountability;  but  this 
was  not  all.  The  abandonment  of  Canada  by  the 
company,  in  leaving  Dumesnil  without  support, 
and  depriving  him  of  official  character,  had  made 
his  charges  far  less  dangerous.  Nevertheless,  it 
was  thought  best  to  suppress  them  altogether,  and 
the  fa\st  act  of  the  new  government  was  to  this 
end. 

On  the  twentieth  of  September,  the  second  day 
after  the  establishment  of  the  council.  Bourdon, 
in  his  character  of  attorney-general,  rose  and  de- 
manded that  the  papers  of  Jean  Peronne  Dumesnil 
should  be  seized  and  sequestered.  The  council  con- 
a'lited,  and,  to  complete  the  scandal,  Villeray  was 
commissioned  to  make  the  seizure  in  the  presence 
of  Bourdon.  To  color  the  proceeding,  it  was  alleged 
that  Dumesnil  had  obtained  certain  papers  unlaw- 
fully from  the  greffe  or  record  office.  "  As  he  was 
thought,"  says  Gaudais,  "to  be  a  violent  man," 


IS! 

I:'. 

li!' 


140 


LAVAL  AND  DUMESNIL. 


[1063. 


Bourdon  and  Villeray  took  with  them  ten  soldlors. 
well  armed,  together  with  a  locksmith  and  the 
secretary  of  the  council.  Thus  prepared  for  every 
contingency,  they  set  out  on  their  errand,  ainl 
appeared  suddenly  at  Dumesnil's  house  l)etwoon 
seven  and  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening.  "  The 
aforesaid  Sieur  Dumesnil,"  further  says  Gaiiduis. 
^'  did  not  refute  the  ophiion  entertained  of  his 
violence ;  for  he  made  a  great  noise,  shouted  rob- 
bers !  and  tried  to  rouse  the  neighborhood,  out- 
rageously abusing  the  aforesaid  Sieur  de  A'ilk'ray 
and  the  attorney-general,  in  great  contempt  of  the 
authority  of  the  council,  which  he  even  refused  to 


recognize. 


)> 


They  tried  to  silence  him  by  threats,  but  with- 
out effect ;  upon  which  they  seized  him  and  held 
him  fast  in  a  chair;  '^  me,"  writes  the  wrathful 
Dumesnil,  "who  had  lately  been  their  judge." 
The  soldiers  stood  over  him  and  stopped  his  mouth 
while  the  others  broke  open  and  ransacked  his 
cabinet,  drawers,  and  chest,  from  Avhich  they  took 
all  his  papers,  refusing  to  give  him  an  inventory,  or 
to  permit  any  witness  to  enter  the  house.  Some  of 
these  papers  were  private  ;  among  the  rest  were,  ho 
says,  the  charges  and  specifications,  nearly  finished. 
for  the  trial  of  Bourdon  and  Villeray,  together  with 
the  proofs  of  their  ''  peculations,  extortions,  and 
malversations."  The  papers  were  enclosed  under 
seal,  and  deposited  in  a  neighboring  house,  whence 
they  were  afterwards  removed  to  the  council- 
chamber,  and  Dumesnil  never  saw  them  again.    It 


1603. 


DKSIGNS   OF  THE   COUNCIL. 


Ul 


mav  well  bo  believed  that  this,  the  inaii<^ural  act 
of  the  new  council,  was  not  allowed  to  appear  on 
its  records.* 

On  the  twenty-first,  Villeray  made  a  formal  re- 
port of  the  seizure  to  his  colleagues ;  upon  which, 
'•bv  reason  of  the  insults,  violences,  and  irrever- 
encos  therein  set  forth  against  the  aforesaid  Sieur 
(le  Villeray,  commissioner,  as  also  against  the 
iuithonty  of  the  council,"  it  was  ordered  that  the 
oftending  Dumesnil  should  be  put  under  arrest; 
but  Gaudais,  as  he  declares,  prevented  the  order 
from  being  carried  into  effect. 

Dumesnil,  who  says  that  during  the  scene  at  his 
house  he  had  expected  to  be  murdered  like  his 
son,  now,  though  unsupported  and  alone,  returned 
to  the  attack,  demanded  his  papers,  and  was  so 
loucl  in  threats  of  complaint  to  the  king  that  the 
council  were  seriously  alarmed.  They  again  decreed 
his  arrest  and  imprisonment;  but  resolved  to  keep 
the  decree  secret  till  the  morning  of  the  day  when 
the  last  of  the  returning  ships  was  to  sail  for  France. 
In  this  ship  Dumesnil  had  taken  his  passage,  and 
they  proposed  to  arrest  him  unexpectedly  on  the 
l)oint  of  embarkation,  that  he  might  have  no  time 
to  prepare  and  despatch  a  memorial  to  the  court. 
Thus  a  full  year  must  elapse  before  his  complaints 
could  reach  the  minister,  and  seven  or  eight  months 
more  before  a  reply  could  be  returned  to  Canada. 
During  this  long  delay  the  affair  would  have  time 
to  cool.     Dumesnil  received  a  secret  warning  of 

^  The  above  is  drawn  from  the  two  memorials  of  Gaudais  and  of 
Dumesnil.    They  do  not  contradict  each  other  as  to  the  essential  facts. 


142 


LAVAL  AND   DUMESNIL. 


[1663. 


m 
^ 


this  plan,  and  accordingly  went  on  board  another 
vessel,  which  was  to  sail  immediately.  The  council 
caused  the  six  cannon  of  the  battery  in  the  Lower 
Town  to  be  pointed  at  her,  and  threatened  to  sink 
her  if  she  left  the  harbor;  but  she  disregarded 
them,  and  proceeded  on  her  way. 

On  reaching  France,  Dumesnil  contrived  to  draw 
the  attention  of  the  minister  Colbert  to  his  accusa- 
tions, and  to  the  trec.tment  they  had  brought  upon 
him.  On  this  Colbert  demanded  of  Gaudais,  who 
had  also  returned  in  one  of  the  autmnn  ships,  why 
he  had  not  reported  these  matters  to  him.  Gaudais 
made  a  lame  attempt  to  explain  his  silence,  gave 
his  statement  of  the  seizure  of  the  papers,  answered 
in  vague  terms  some  of  Dumesnil's  charges  against 
the  Canadian  financiers,  and  said  that  he  had 
notliinf):  to  do  with  the  rest.  In  the  foUowinii' 
spring  Colbert  wrote  as  follows  to  his  relative 
Terron,  intendant  of  marine :  — 

"  I  do  not  know  what  report  M.  Gaudais  has 
made  to  you,  but  family  interests  and  the  connec- 
tions which  he  has  at  Quebec  should  cause  him 
to  be  a  little  distrusted.  On  his  arrival  in  that 
country,  having  constituted  himself  chief  of  the 
council,  he  despoiled  an  agent  of  the  Compiiny  of 
Canada  of  all  his  papers,  in  a  manner  very  violent 
and  extraordinary,  and  this  proceeding  leaves  no 
doubt  whatever  that  these  papers  contained  matters 
the  knowledge  of  which  it  was  wished  absolutely 
to  suppress.  I  think  it  will  be  very  proper  that 
you  should  be  informed  of  the  statements  made  hy 
this  agent,  in  order  that,  tlirough  him,  an  exact 


1663.] 


CHARGES  OF  DUMESNIL. 


143 


knowledge  may  be  acquired  of  every  thing  that  has 
taken  place  in  the  management  of  affairs."^ 

Whether  Terron  pursued  the  inquiry  does  not 
appear.  Meanwhile  new  quarrels  had  arisen  at 
Quebec,  and  the  questions  of  the  past  were  obscured 
in  the  dust  of  fresh  commotions.  Nothing  is  more 
noticeable  in  the  whole  history  of  Canada,  after  it 
came  under  the  direct  control  of  the  Crown,  than 
the  helpless  manner  in  which  this  absolute  govern- 
ment was  forced  to  overlook  and  ignore  the  dis- 
obedience and  rascality  of  its  functionaries  in  this 
distant  transatlantic  dependency. 

As  regards  Dumesnil's  charges,  the  truth  seems 
to  be,  that  the  financial  managers  of  the  colony, 
being  ignorant  and  unpractised,  had  kept  imper- 
fect and  confused  accounts,  which  they  themselves 
could  not  always  unravel ;  and  that  some,  if  not  all 
of  them,  had  made  illicit  profits  under  cover  of  this 
confusion.  That  their  stealings  approached  the 
enormous  sum  at  which  Dumesnil  places  them  is  not 
to  be  believed.  But,  even  on  the  grossly  improbable 
assumption  of  their  entire  innocence,  there  can  be 
no  apology  for  the  means,  subversive  of  all  justice, 
by  which  Laval  enabled  his  partisans  and  support- 
ers to  extricate  themselves  from  embarrassment. 


1  Lettre  de  Colbert  a  Terron,  RocheUe,  8  FeA\,  1664.  "  II  a  spolid  un 
ajrent  de  la  Conipagnie  de  Canada  de  tous  ses  papiers  d'une  nianiere 
L)it  violente  et  extraordinaire,  et  ce  procc'de  ne  laisse  point  k  doiiter 
que  dans  ces  pipiers  il  n'y  eut  des  clioses  dont  on  a  voulu  ahsolument 
BiippriiiKT  la  c  jnnaissance."  Colbert  seems  to  have  received  an  ex- 
angt'iatt'd  impression  of  the  part  borue  by  Gaudais  in  the  seizure  of 
the  papers. 


144 


LAVAL  AND  DUMESNIL. 


[1663. 


hi; 


Note.  —  Dumesnil's  principal  memorial,  preserved  in  the  ar- 
chives of  the  Marine  and  Colonies,  is  entitled  Memoire  concemant  les 
Affaires  du  Canada,  qui  moiilre  et  fait  voir  que  sous  pre'texte  de  (a 
Ghire  de  Dieu,  d^ Instruction  des  Sauvar/es,  de  servir  le  Itoij  d 'k 
/aire  la  nouvelle  Colonic,  il  a  ete  pris  et  diverti  trois  millior  -  de  Hires 
ou  environ.  It  forms  in  the  copy  before  me  thirty-eight  piu^es  of 
manuscript,  and  bears  no  address  ;  but  seems  meant  for  Colbert 
or  the  council  of  state.  There  is  a  second  memorial,  which  ig 
little  else  than  an  abridgment  of  the  first.  A  third,  boariiif^  the 
address  Au  Roij  et  a  nos  Seigneurs  du  Conseil  {d^Etat),  and  siciied 
Peronne  Dumesnil,  is  a  petition  for  the  payment  of  1U,1;Jl'  hvrcs 
due  to  him  by  the  company  for  his  services  in  Canada,  "  ou  il  a 
perdu  son  fils  assassine  par  les  comptables  du  dit  pays,  qui  n'ont 
voulu  rendre  compte  au  dit  suppliant,  Intendant,  et  ont  pille  sa 
maison,  ses  meubles  etpapiers  le  20  du  mois  de  Septembre  deruiLr, 
dont  il  y  a  acte." 

Gaudais,  in  compliance  with  the  demands  of  Colbert,  gives  hi3 
statement  in  a  long  memorial,  Le  Sieur  Gaudais  Dupont  u  Mun- 
seigneur  de  Colbert,  1001. 

Dumesnil,  in  his  i)rincipal  memorial,  gives  a  list  of  the  alleged 
defaulters,  with  the  special  charges  against  each,  and  the  amounts 
for  which  he  reckons  them  liable.  The  accusations  cover  a  period 
of  ten  or  twelve  years,  and  sometimes  more.  Some  of  them  are 
curiously  suggestive  of  more  recent  "rings."  Thus  Joan  Gloria 
makes  a  charge  of  thirty-one  hundred  livres  (francs)  for  tiroworks 
to  celebrate  the  king's  marriage,  when  the  actual  cost  is  said  to 
have  been  about  forty  livres.  Others  are  alleged  to  have  eniliezzled 
the  funds  of  the  company,  under  cover  of  pretended  paymoiits  to 
imaginary  creditors  ;  and  Argenson  himself  is  said  to  have  eked  out 
his  miserable  salary  by  drawing  ou  the  company  for  the  pay  of 
soldiers  who  did  not  exist. 

The  records  of  the  Council  preserve  a  guarded  silence  about  this 
affair.  I  tiud,  however,  under  date  "JO  Sept.,  lOO^},  "  Pouvoir  a  M. 
de  Villeray  de  faire  recherche  dans  la  maison  d'lin  nonime  du  .!/'>■ 
nil  dcs  pajdors  apparteuants  au  Conseil  concernaiit  Sa  Majestt' ;" 
and  under  date  lis  March,  KiiM,  "  Ordre  pour  I'ouverture  du  cotfro 
couteiumt  les  i)apiers  de  JJumesnil,"  and  also  an  "  Ordre  puiir 
mettre  I'lnventaire  des  biens  du  Sr.  Dumesnil  entre  les  mains  du 
Sr.  Fillion." 


CHAPTER  Vin. 

1657-1665. 
LAVAL  AND  UtZY. 

The  Bishop's   Choice.  —  A  Military   Zkalot.  —  Hopeful  Regiw- 

NIXGS.— SiGKS  op  StOHM. —  TllE  QuAKREL. —  DISTRESS  OF  MeZY, — 

He  Kef"8es  to  Yield. — His  Defeat  and  Death. 


We  have  seen  that  Laval,  when  at  court,  had 
been  invited  to  choose  a  governor  to  his  liking. 
He  soon  made  his  selection.  There  was  a  pious 
officer,  Saft'ray  de  M6zy,  major  of  the  town  and 
citadel  of  Caen,  whom  he  had  well  known  during 
his  long  stay  with  Bernieres  at  the  Hermitage. 
Mezy  was  the  principal  member  of  the  company  of 
(levotees  formed  at  Caen  under  the  influence  of 
Bernieres  and  his  disciples.  In  his  youth  he  had 
been  headstrong  and  dissolute.  Worse  still,  he  had 
been,  it  is  said,  a  Huguenot ;  but  both  in  life  and 
doctrine  his  conversion  hnd  been  complete,  and  the 
fervid  mysticism  of  Bernieres  acting  on  his  vehe- 
ment nature  had  transformed  him  into  a  red-hot 
zealot.  Towards  the  hermits  and  their  chief  he 
showed  a  docility  in  strange  contrast  with  his  past 
history,  and  followed  their  inspirations  with  an 
ardor  which  sometimes  overleaped  its  mark. 

10 


146 


LAVAL  AND  MifeZY. 


11C67-G9 


Thus  a  Jacobin  monk,  a  doctor  of  divinit} ,  once 
came  to  preach  at  the  church  of  St.  Paul  at  Caen 
on  which,  according  to  their  custom,  the  brother- 
hood of  the  Hermitage  sent  two  persons  to  make 
report  concerning  his  orthodoxy.  Mezy  and  an- 
other mihtary  zealot,  "  who,"  says  the  narrator. 
'^  hardly  know  how  to  read,  and  assuredly  do  not 
know  their  catechism,"  were  deputed  to  hear  liis 
first  sermon ;  wherein  this  Jacobin,  having  spoken 
of  the  necessity  of  the  grace  of  Jesus  Chiist  in 
order  to  the  doing  of  good  deeds,  these  two  wise- 
acres thought  that  he  was  preaching  Jansonisni; 
and  thereupon,  after  the  sermon,  the  Sieur  de 
Mezy  went  to  the  proctor  of  the  ecclesiastical  court 
and  denounced  him."^ 

His  zeal,  though  but  moderately  tempered  with 
knowledge,  sometimes  proved  more  useful  than  on 
this  occasion.  The  Jacobin  convent  at  Caor  w;i< 
divided  against  itself.  Some  of  the  monks  had 
embraced  the  doctrines  taught  by  Bernieres,  while 
the  rest  held  dogmas  which  he  declared  to  be  con- 
trary to  those  of  the  Jesuits,  and  therefore  hetero- 
dox. A  prior  Avas  to  be  elected,  and,  with  the 
help  of  Bernieres,  his  partisans  gained  the  victor}. 
choosing  one  Father  Louis,  through  whom  the  Her- 
mitage gained  a  complete  control  in  the  convent. 
But  the  adverse  party  presently  resisted,  and  com- 
plained to  the  provincial  of  their  order,  who  canii 
to  Caen  to  close  the  dispute  by  deposing  Father 
Louis.     Hearing  of  his  approach,  Bernieres  asked 


•  Nicole,  ,1Mho/j7'  pnur  faire  coiinoistre  resprit  et  la  conduiie  dv  h  Cwn- 
pagnie  appillee  I'lJeniittKye. 


1663.] 


SAFFRAY  BF.  M]^-ZY. 


147 


aid  from  his  military  disciple,  and  De  M^zy  sent 
him  a  squad  of  soldiers,  who  guarded  the  convent 
doors  and  barred  out  the  provincial.^ 

Among  the  merits  of  Mezy,  his  humility  and 
charity  were  especially  admired  ;  and  the  people  of 
Caen  had  more  than  once  seen  the  town  major 
sta^iierin*?  across  the  street  with  a  be£j:f:^ar  mounted 
on  liis  back,  whom  he  was  bearing  dry-shod  through 
the  mud  in  the  exercise  of  those  virtues.^  In  this 
he  imitated  his  master  Bernieres,  of  whom  similar 
acts  arc  recorded.^  However  dramatic  in  manifes- 
tation, his  devotion  Avas  not  only  sincere  but  in- 
tense. Laval  imagined  that  he  knew  him  well. 
xVbove  all  others,  Mezy  was  the  man  of  his  choice  ; 
and  so  eagerly  did  he  plead  for  him,  that  the  king 
himself  paid  certain  debts  which  the  pious  m.ajor 
had  cont  'acted,  and  thus  left  him  free  to  sail  for 
Canada. 

His  deportment  on  the  voyage  was  edifying,  and 
the  first  days  of  his  accession  were  passed  in  ha:> 
mony.  He  permitted  Laval  to  form  the  new 
council,  and  supplied  the  soldiers  for  the  seizure  of 
Diimcsnil's  papers.  A  question  arose  concerning 
Montreal,  a  subject  on  which  the  governors  and 
the  l)isliop  rarely  differed  in  opinion.  The  present 
instance  was  no  exception  to  the  rule.  Mezy  re- 
moved Maisonneuve,  the  local  governor,  and  imme- 
diately replaced  him ;  the  effect  being,  that  whereas 


'^  JiR'hereau,  Histoire  de  VHolel-Dicn,  149. 

'  See  tlie  latidiitory  notice  of  Bernieres  de  Louvigny  in  the  Nonvell 
Bimjniiihie  Universelte. 


148 


LAVAL  AND  UtZY. 


[10G3, 


mi. 


he  had  before  tlerived  his  authority  from  the  seifqi- 
iors  of  the  i.sland,  he  now  derived  it  from  the 
governor-general.  It  was  a  movement  in  the  in- 
terest  of  centralized  power,  and  as  such  was  cor- 
dially approved  by  Laval. 

The  first  indication  to  the  bishop  and  the  Jesuits 
that  the  new  governor  was  not  likely  to  prove  in 
their  hands  as  clay  in  the  hands  of  the  potter,  is 
said  to  have  been  given  on  occasion  of  an  inter- 
view with  an  embassy  of  Iroquois  chiefs,  to  wlioin 
Mezy,  aware  of  their  duplicity,  spoke  with  a  deci- 
sion and  haughtiness  that  awed  the  savages  and 
astonished  the  ecclesiastics. 

He  seems  to  have  been  one  of  those  natures  that 
run  with  an  engrossing  vehemence  along  any  chan- 
nel into  which  they  may  have  been  turned.  At 
the  Hermitage  he  was  all  devotee  ;  but  climate  and 
conditions  had  changed,  and  he  or  his  symptom^ 
changed  with  them.  He  found  himself  raised  sud- 
denly to  a  post  of  command,  or  one  wliich  wa^ 
meant  to  be  such.  The  town  major  of  Caen  was 
set  to  rule  over  a  region  far  larger  than  France. 
The  royal  authority  was  trusted  to  his  keeping,  and 
his  honor  and  duty  forbade  him  to  break  the  tiust. 
But  when  he  found  that  those  who  had  procured 
for  him  his  new  dignities  had  done  so  that  he 
might  be  an  instrument  of  their  will,  his  ancient 
pride  started  again  into  life,  and  his  headstrong 
temper  broke  out  like  a  long-smothered  fire.  Laval 
stood  aghast  at  the  transformation.  His  lamb  had 
turned  wolf. 

What  especially  stirred  the  governor's  dudgeon 


1G64.1 


THE   QUARREL  BEGUN. 


149 


was  tlie  conduct  of  Bourdon,  Yilleray,  and  Au- 
teiiil,  tliose  faithful  allies  whom  Laval  had  ])laced  on 
the  council,  and  who,  as  Mezy  soon  foimd,  wore 
wholly  in  the  bishop's  interest.  On  the  loth  of 
February  he  sent  his  friend  Angoville,  major  of 
the  fort,  to  Laval,  with  a  written  declaration  to  the 
(.'tfect  that  he  had  ordered  them  to  absent  them- 
selves from  the  council,  because,  having  been 
appointed  "  on  the  persuasion  of  the  aforesaid 
Bishop  of  Petraea,  who  knew  them  to  be  wholly  his 
creatures,  they  wish  to  make  themselves  masters  in 
the  aforesaid  council,  and  have  acted  in  divers  ways 
against  the  interests  of  the  king  and  the  public  for 
the  promotion  of  personal  and  private  ends,  and 
have  formed  and  fomented  cabals,  contrary  to  their 
fluty  and  their  oath  of  fidelity  to  his  aforesaid 
Majesty."^  He  further  declares  that  advantage 
had  been  taken  of  the  facility  of  his  disposition  and 
his  iiiiiorance  of  the  country  to  surprise  him  into 
assenting  to  their  nomination ;  and  he  asks  the 
bishop  to  acquiesce  in  their  expulsion,  and  join  him 
in  calling  an  assemljly  of  the  people  to  choose  others 
in  their  place.  Laval  refused  ;  on  which  Mczy 
caused  his  declaration  to  be  placarded  about  Quebec 
and  proclaimed  by  sound  of  drum. 

The  proposal  of  a  public  election,  contrary  as  it 
was  to  the  spirit  of  the  government,  opposed  to  the 
edict  establishing  the  council,  and  utterly  odious  to 
the  young  autocrat  who  ruled  over  France,  gave 


'  Oidrr  de  M.  de  M^-y  de  faire  sommntion  a  VEveqnr  dp  Pefr^f,  13  Ft  v., 
1004.  X' it  if,  rati  on  du  dit  Ordre,  mcme  date.  (Registre  du  Coiis-cil 
ijuiiorieur.) 


150 


LAVAL  AND   MtZY. 


m 


m^ 


[\m. 


Laval  a  great  advantage.  "  I  reply,"  ho  wrote 
''  to  tlie  request  ^vliich  Monsieur  the  Govornor 
makes  me  to  consent  to  the  interdiction  (*!'  the 
persons  named  in  his  declaration,  and  2)roccc(l  to 
the  choice  of  other  councillors  or  officers  l)v  an 
asseml)ly  of  tlie  people,  that  neither  my  conscicnee 
nor  my  honor,  nor  the  respect  and  obedience  which 
I  owe  t«  ]  e  will  and  commands  of  the  kliig,  iKjr 
my  fideli'  ■  ai  v  affection  to  his  service,  will  l)y  unv 
means  permit  m  '  to  do  so."^ 

Mczy  Avas  dealing  with  an  adversary  armed  with 
redoubtable  Aveapons.  It  was  intimated  to  hi  in  that 
the  sacraments  Avould  be  refused,  and  the  ch niches 
closed  against  him.  This  threw  liim  into  an  agoiij 
of  doubt  and  perturbation ;  for  the  emotional  relig- 
ion wdiich  had  become  a  part  of  his  nature,  though 
overborne  by  gusts  of  passionate  irritation,  was  j;till 
full  of  life  within  him.  Tossing  between  the  ohl 
feeling  and  tlie  new,  he  took  a  course  which  reveals 
the  trouble  and  confusion  of  his  mind.  lie  threw 
himself  for  counsel  and  comfort  on  the  Jesuits, 
though  he  knew  them  to  be  one  with  Laval  against 
him,  and  though,  under  cover  of  denouncing  sin  in 
general,  they  had  lashed  him  sharply  in  their  ser- 
mons. There  is  something  pathetic  in  the  appeal 
he  makes  them.  For  the  glory  of  God  and  the 
service  of  the  king,  he  had  come,  he  says,  on 
Laval's  solicitation,  to  seek  salvation  in  Canada; 
and  being  under  obligation  to  the  bishop,  who  had 
recommended  him  to  the  king,  he  felt  bound  to 
show  proofs  of  his  gratitude  on  every  occasion. 

1  R€ponse  de  I'Eveque  de  Petr^e,  16  Fev.,  1664. 


I'  1 


mi] 


DISTRESS   OF   MfeZY. 


151 


Yet  noitlicr  gratitiule  to  a  benefactor  nor  the 
ro^ipoot  (hie  to  his  character  and  person  shoiikl  be 
peiinitted  to  hiterfere  with  duty  to  the  king,  "  since 
lu.'itlier  conscience  nor  honor  permit  us  to  neglect 
tlic  lequirements  of  our  office  and  betray  the  in- 
terests of  his  Majesty,  after  receiving  orders  from 
his  lips,  and  making  oath  of  lidelity  between  his 
hands."  He  proceeds  to  say  that,  having  discov- 
ered practices  of  which  he  felt  obliged  to  prevent 
the  continuance,  he  had  made  a  declaration  expel- 
ling the  offenders  from  office ;  that  the  bishop  and 
all  the  ecclesiastics  had  taken  this  declaration  as  a 
olfence;  that,  regardless  of  the  king's  service,  t  ey 
had  denounced  him  as  a  calunmiator,  an  imjust 
jndge,  without  gratitude,  and  perverted  in  con- 
:<cieiice ;  and  that  one  of  the  chief  among  the  had 
come  to  warn  him  that  the  sacraments  would  be 
refnsed  and  the  churches  closed  against  him. 
"  This,"  whites  the  unhappy  governor,  "  has  agi- 
tated our  soul  with  scruples  •  and  we  have  none 
from  whom  to  seek  light  save  those  who  are  our 
declared  opponents,  pronouncing  judgment  on  us 
without  knowledge  of  cause.  Yet  as  our  salvation 
and  the  duty  we  owe  the  king  are  the  things  most 
important  to  us  on  earth,  and  as  we  hold  them  to 
be  inseparable  the  one  from  the  other;  and  as 
nothing  is  so  certain  as  death,  and  nothing  so  un- 
certain as  the  hour  thereof ;  and  as  there  is  no  time 
to  inform  his  Majesty  of  what  is  passing  and  to 
receive  his  commands ;  and  as  our  soul,  though 
conscious  of  innocence,  is  always  in  fear,  —  we  feel 
obliged,  despite  their  opposition,  to  have  recourse 


*^; 


152 


LAVAL  AND  M^ZY. 


11C64. 


to  the  reverend  father  casuists  of  the  House  of 
Jesus,  to  tell  us  in  conscience  what  we  can  do  for 
the  fulfilment  of  our  duty  at  once  to  God  und  to 
the  king."  1 

The  Jesuits  gave  him  little  comfort.  Lalcmant, 
their  superior,  replied  by  advising  him  to  follow 
the  directions  of  his  confessor,  a  Jesuit,  so  far  as 
the  question  concerned  spiritual  matters,  uddinu- 
that  in  temporal  matters  he  had  no  advice  to  give.- 
The  distinction  was  illusory.  The  quarrel  turned 
wholly  on  temporal  matters,  but  it  was  a  quturel 
with  a  bishop.  To  separate  in  such  a  case  the 
spiritual  obligation  from  the  temporal  w^as  bevond 
the  skill  of  Mezy,  nor  would  the  confessor  have 
helped  him. 

Perplexed  and  troubled  as  he  was,  he  would 
not  reinstate  Bourdon  and  the  two  councillors. 
The  people  began  to  clamor  at  the  interruption 
of  justice,  for  which  they  blamed  Laval,  whom  a 
recent  imposition  of  tithes  had  made  unpopular. 
Mezy  thereupon  issued  a  proclamation,  in  ^vhieli, 
after  mentioning  his  opponents  as  the  most  subtle 
and  artfid  persons  in  Canada,  he  declares  tliat,  in 
consequence  of  petitions  sent  him  from  Quebec 
and  the  neighboring  settlements,  he  had  called  the 
people  to  the  council  chamber,  and  by  their  advice 
had  appointed  the  Sieur  de  Chartier  as  attorney- 
general  in  place  of  Bourdon.^ 

Bourdon  replied  by  a  violent  appeal  from  the 

1  M^zi/  nux  PP.  Je'suites,  Fait  an  Chateau  de  Quebec  ce  dernier  jour 
de  Fevrier,  1664. 

'^  Lettre  du  P.  II.  Lalemant  a  Mr.  le  (louverneur. 
"  Declaration  du  Sieur  de  M^zy,  10  Mars,  1664. 


ItiOi] 


CONTINUED   STHIFE. 


153 


oovcnior  to  the  remaiiiin«i;  iiieiul)(n's  of  the  council,^ 
on  which  Mczy  dechired  hhn  exchided  from  all 
public  functions  whtitever,  till  the  king's  pleasure 
.should  he  known.'-  Thus  church  and  state  still 
frowned  on  each  other,  and  new  disputes  soon  arose 
to  widen  the  hreach  between  them.  On  the  first 
establishment  of  the  council,  an  order  had  been 
passed  for  the  election  of  a  mayor  and  two  alder- 
men {tchec'ms)  for  Quebec,  which  it  was  proposed 
to  erect  into  a  city,  though  it  had  only  seventy 
houses  and  less  than  a  thousand  inhabitants.  Re- 
pentigny  was  chosen  mayor,  and  Madry  and  Char- 
ion  aldermen ;  but  the  choice  was  not  agreeable  to 
the  bishop,  and  the  three  functionaries  declined  to 
act,  influence  having  probably  been  brought  to  bear 
on  them  to  that  end.  The  council  now  resolved 
that  a  mayor  was  needless,  and  the  people  were 
permitted  to  choose  a  syndic  in  his  stead.  These 
municipal  elections  were  always  so  controlled  by 
the  authorities  that  the  element  of  libertv  which 
they  seemed  to  represent  was  little  but  a  mockery. 
On  the  present  occasion,  after  an  unaccountable 
delay  of  ten  months,  twenty-two  jiersons  cast  their 
votes  in  presence  of  the  council,  and  the  choice 
fell  on  Charron.  The  real  question  was  whether 
the  new  syndic  should  belong  to  the  governor  or 
to  the  bishop.  Charron  leaned  to  the  governor's 
party.  The  ecclesiastics  insisted  that  the  people 
were  dissatisfied,  and  a  new  election  was  ordered, 
but  the  voters  did  not  come.     The  governor  now 

'  Bourdon  an  Conscil,  13  Mars,  1G64, 
2  Ordre  da  Gouvernetir,  13  Mars,  1G64, 


154 


LAVAL  AND   MfiZY. 


[K,r,4. 


I 


"'4' 


sent  inossngcs  to  such  of  the  in]i{il)itjint8  as  lie  know 
to  he  in  his  interest,  who  gathered  in  tlic  comicil 
cljnin])er,  voted  under  liis  eye,  and  again  cIiusl'  a 
syndic  agreeahle  to  him.  Laval's  party  prok'stod 
in  vain.^ 

The  councillors  held  office  for  a  year,  and  the 
year  had  now  expired.  The  governor  and  the 
hishop,  it  will  he  reniemhered,  had  a  joint  power 
of  appointment ;  hut  agreement  hetween  them  was 
impossihle.  Laval  was  for  replacing  his  partisan^, 
Bourdon,  Villeray,  Auteuil,  and  La  Fert'''.  Mr/v 
refused ;  and  on  the  eighteenth  of  September  In- 
reconstructed  the  council  hy  his  sole  authority, 
retaining  of  the  old  councillors  only  Amours  and 
Tilly,  and  replacing  the  rest  hy  Denis,  La  Tcsscrio, 
and  Pcronne  de  Maze,  the  surviving  son  of  Dnini's- 
nil.  Again  Laval  protested  ;  but  Mezy  proelainiei] 
his  choice  by  sound  of  drum,  and  caused  placards 
to  be  posted,  full,  according  to  Father  Laleniant,  of 
abuse  against  the  bishop.  On  this  he  was  excluded 
from  confession  and  absolution.  He  compltiined 
loudly ;  *'  but  our  reply  w\as,"  says  the  father, 
"that  God  knew  every  tiling."'^ 

This  unanswerable  but  somewhat  irrelevant  re- 
sponse failed  to  satisfy  him,  and  it  was  possibly  on 
this  occasion  that  an  incident  occurred  which  is  re- 
counted by  the  bishop's  eulogist,  La  Tour.  He  says 
that  Mez}^,  with  some  unknown  design,  appeared 
before  the  church  at  the  head  of  a  band  of  soldiers, 
while  Laval  was  saying  mass.  The  service  over,  the 
bishop  presented  himself  q-t  the  door,  on  whicli,  to 

I  lieyistre  da  Conseil  Sup^rieur.  -  Journal  des  J^suiks,  Oct.,  1061 


1G04. 


Mf:ZY\S    DKFKAT. 


155 


the  iiovomor's  confusion,  all  tlie  soldiers  rospoct- 
fiillv  snlutcMl  liiin.^  The  stoiy  may  have  some 
foundation,  but  it  is  not  supported  by  contemporary 
evidence. 

On  the  Sunday  after  Mezy's  coup  d'etat,  the 
pulpits  resounded  with  denunciations.  The  people 
listened,  doul)tless,  with  becoming  respect;  ])ut 
iheir  sympathies  were  with  the  governor;  and  he, 
on  liis  part,  had  made  a[)peals  to  them  at  more 
than  one  crisis  of  the  quarrel,  lie  now  fell  into 
another  indiscretion.  lie  banished  Bourdon  and 
Vilk'i'ay,  and  ordered   them  home  to  France. 

They  carried  with  them  the  instruments  of  their 
revenge,  the  accusations  of  Laval  and  the  Jesuits 
a!]:iiinst  the  author  of  their  woes.  Of  these  accusa- 
tions  one  alone  would  have  sufficed.  Mezy  had 
appcMiled  to  the  people.  It  is  true  that  he  did  so 
from  110  love  of  popular  liberty,  but  simply  to  make 
liond  against  an  opponent ;  yet  the  act  alone  was 
enough,  and  he  received  a  peremptory  recall. 
Agjiin  Laval  had  triumphed.  He  had  made  one 
gov(M'nor  and  unmade  two,  if  not  three.  The 
modest  Levite,  as  one  of  his  biographers  calls  him 
in  his  earlier  days,  had  become  the  foremost  power 
in  Canada. 

Laval  had  a  threefold  strength  at  court;  his 
high  birth,  \ii<  reputed  sanctity,  and  the  support 
of  the  Jesuits.  This  was  not  all,  for  the  perma- 
nency of  his  position  in  the  colony  gave  him  another 
advuntasi^e.     The  ii'overnors  were  named  for  three 


*  La  Tour,  Vie  de  Laval,  Liv.  Vll.    It  is  charitable  to  ascribe  this 
writer's  many  errors  to  carelessness. 


156 


LAVAL  AND   Ml&ZY. 


[1G65. 


years,  and  could  be  recalled  at  any  time;  but  the 
vicar  apostolic  owed  his  appointment  to  the  Pope, 
and  the  Pope  alone  could  revoke  it.  Thus  he  was 
beyond  reach  of  the  royal  authority,  and  the  court 
was  in  a  certain  sense  obliged  to  conciliate  him. 
As  for  IVIezy,  a  man  of  no  rank  or  influeuce,  he 
could  expect  no  mercy.  Yet,  though  irritalile  and 
violen.u  he  seems  to  have  tried  conscientiously  to 
reconcile  conflicting  duties,  or  what  he  regarded  as 
such.  The  go^^ernors  and  intcndants,  his  succes- 
sors, received,  during  luany  years,  secret  instruc- 
tions from  the  court  to  Avatch  Laval,  and  cautiouslv 
prevent  him  from  assuming  powers  which  did  not 
belong  to  him.  It  is  likely  that  similar  instruc- 
tions had  been  given  to  Mezy,^  and  that  the  attempt 
to  fulfil  them  had  aided  to  embroil  him  with  one 
who  was  probably  the  last  man  on  earth  with  whom 
he  would  willingly  have  quarrelled. 

An  inquiry  was  ordered  into  his  conduct;  hut  a 
voice  more  potent  than  the  voice  of  the  king  had 
called  hiui  to  another  tribunal.  A  disease,  the 
result  perhaps  of  mental  agitation,  seized  upon 
him  and  soon  brought  hiui  to  extremity.  Ashe 
lay  gasping  between  life  and  death,  fear  and  liori'or 
took  possession  of  his  soul.  Hell  yawned  before 
his  fevered  vision,  peopled  Avith  phantoms  Avhicli 
long  and  lonely  meditations,  after  the  discipline  of 
Loyola,  made  real  and  palpable  to  his  th()u«>lit. 
He   smelt  the  fumes   of   infernnl   brimstoue.  and 

1  Tlie  royal  comniissioniT,  Gaudiiis,  wlio  caim'  to  Canada  witli  Mo/y, 
had,  as  l)e<'t)re  iiu'iitioiied,  orders  to  inquire  with  great  secrecy  into  the 
conduct  of  I, aval.  Tlie  intendant,  Talon,  wlio  followed  ininieeliatcly 
after,  had  siniilar  instructions. 


aveim'in^^  a 


166.3. 


DEATH   OF   MfeZY. 


157 


heard  the  howlings  of  the  damned.  He  saw  the 
frown  of  the  angry  Judge,  and  the  fiery  swords  of 
avenging  angels,  hurling  wretches  like  himself, 
writhing  in  anguish  and  despair,  into  the  gulf  of 
unutterable  woe.  He  listened  to  the  ghostly  coun- 
sellors Avho  besieged  his  bed,  bowed  his  head  in 
penitence,  made  his  peace  with  the  church,  asked 
piu'don  of  Laval,  confessed  to  him,  and  received 
absolution  at  his  hands ;  and  his  late  adversaries, 
now  benign  and  bland,  soothed  him  with  promises 
of  pnrdon,  and  hopes  of  eternal  bliss. 

Before  he  died,  he  w^rote  to  the  Marquis  de  Tracy, 
newly  appointed  viceroy,  a  letter  which  indicates 
that  even  in  his  penitence  he  could  not  feel  himself 
wholly  in  the  wronti;.^  He  also  left  a  will  in  which 
the  pathetic  and  the  quaint  are  curiously  mingled. 
After  praying  his  patron.  Saint  Augustine,  with 
Saint  John,  Saint  Peter,  and  all  the  other  saints,  to 
intercede  for  the  pardon  of  his  sins,  he  directs  that 
his  l)ody  -shall  Ije  buried  in  the  cemetery  of  the 
poor  at  the  hospital,  as  being  unworthy  of  more 
honored  sepulture.  He  then  makes  various  lega- 
cies of  piety  and  charity.  Other  ])equests  follow, 
one  of  which  is  to  his  friend  Major  Angoville,  to 
whom  he  leaves  two  hundred  francs,  his  coat  of 
English  cloth,  his  camlet  mantle,  a,  pair  of  new 
shoes,  eight  shirts  Avith  sleeve  buttons,  his  sword 
and  belt,  and  a  new  ])lanket  for  the  major's  servant. 
Felix  Aubert  is  to  have  iifty  francs,  with  a  gray 
jaeket,  a  small  coat  of  gray  serge,  ''  which,"  says 
the  testator,  "  has  been  worn  for  a  while,"  and  a 

1  Ltttre  di-  Mtfzy  uu  Mavqula  de  Tracy,  20  Aviil,  1065. 


158 


LAVAL  AND  M^ZY. 


[1CG5. 


pair  of  long  white  stockings.  And  in  a  codicil  lie 
farther  leaves  to  Angoville  his  best  black  coatj  in 
order  that  he  may  wear  mourning  for  him.^ 

His  earthly  troubles  closed  on  the  night  of  tlie 
sixth  of  May.  He  went  to  his  rest  anion i>-  the 
paupers ;  and  the  priests,  serenely  triumphant,  .•<aiii:' 
requiems  over  his  grave. 


9:a- 


■is; 


Note.  — ^lezy  sent  home  charges  against  the  bishop  and  the 
Jesuits  which  seem'  to  have  existed  in  Charlevoix's  thiio,  Imt  for 
"which,  as  well  as  for  those  made  by  Laval,  I  have  sought  in  vain. 

The  substance  of  these  mutual  accusations  is  given  thus  by  the 
minister  Colbert,  in  a  memorial  addressed  to  the  Marquis  ilc  Traov, 
in  lUOo  :  "  Les  Jesuites  Taccusent  d'avarice  et  de  violences  ;  t-t  iui 
qu'ils  voulaient  entreprendre  sur  I'autorite  qui  Iui  a  ete  conimi.so 
l)ar  le  Roy,  en  sorte  que  u'ayant  que  de  leurs  crt'ature.s  dans  1  ■ 
Conseil  Souverain,  toutes  les  resolutions  s'y  prenaient  selun  liuis 
sentiments." 

The  papers  cited  are  drawn  partly  from  the  Reghtrca  da  (  'dus,  ii 
Superleur,  still  preserved  at  Quebec,  and  partly  from  the  Archives 
of  the  ]\Iarine  and  Colonies.  Laval's  admirer,  the  abbe  La  Tnur. 
in  his  eagerness  to  justify  the  bishop,  says  that  the  (juarrt'l  arose 
from  a  dis})ute  about  })reeedence  between  M«''/,y  and  tlie  inti'ndaiit. 
and  from  the  ill-humor  of  the  governor  because  the  iiitendaiit 
shared  the  profits  of  his  ottice.  The  truth  is,  that  there  was  iio 
intendant  in  Canada  during  the  term  of  Mezy's  government.  One 
llobert  had  been  ap})ointed  to  the  office,  but  he  never  came  to  the 
colony.  The  commissioner  (Jaudais,  during  the  two  or  three  months 
of  his  stay  at  Quebec,  took  tlie  intendant's  place  at  the  cuuueil- 
board ;  but  harmony  between  Laval  and  Mezy  was  unbroken  till 
after  his  departure.  Otiier  writers  say  that  the  dispute  arose  i'rdiii 
the  old  question  about  brandy.  Towards  the  end  of  the  tpianvl 
there  was  some  disorder  from  this  source,  but  even  then  the  hramly 
question  was  subordinate  to  other  sul)jeets  of  strife. 


A  Testament  da  Sle.ur  de  M^zij.     This  will,  as  well  as  the  letter,  is  en- 
grossed in  the  registers  of  the  council. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

1 662-1 G80. 
LAVAL  AND   THE   SEMINARY. 

Laval's  Visit  to  Court.  —  Tiik  Seminary.  —  Zeal  of  the  Bishop. — 
His  Eulogists. —  Chukcu  avd  State.  —  Attitude  of  Laval. 

That  memorable  journey  of  Laval  to  court, 
which  caused  the  dissolution  of  the  Companj^  of 
Now  France,  the  establishment  of  the  Supreme 
Council,  the  recall  of  Avaugour,  and  the  appoint- 
ment of  Mezy,  had  yet  other  objects  and  other 
results.  Laval,  vicar  apostolic  and  titular  bishop 
of  Pcti'a?a,  wished  to  become  in  title,  as  in  fact, 
bi.^hop  of  Quebec.  Thus  he  would  gain  an  in- 
croa.^c  of  dignity  and  authority,  necessary,  as  he 
thought,  in  his  conflicts  with  the  civil  power ;  '-  for," 
he  wrote  to  the  cardinals  of  the  Propaganda,"! 
have  learned  from  long  experience  how  little  secu- 
rity my  character  of  vicar  apostolic  gives  me  against 
tho,<e  charged  with  political  affairs :  I  mean  the 
otlicers  of  the  Crown,  perpetual  rivals  and  con- 
temners of  the  authority  of  the  church."  ^ 


'  For  ii  long  extract  from  tliis  letter,  copied  from  the  original  in  the 
nrcliivi's  of  the  Propagiindu  ut  Koine,  see  Faillon,  Colunie  Fiaufaise, 
111.  4:/J. 


160 


LAVAL  AND   THE   SEMINARY. 


llCo2-80. 


r 


This  reaieon  was  for  the  Pope  aiifl  the  caiM mills 
It  may  well  be  believed  that  he  held  a  nir'Vtvii.t 
language  to  the  king.  To  him  he  urged  that  the 
bishopric  was  needed  to  enforce  order,  su])press 
sin,  and  crush  heresy.  Both  Louis  XIV.  and  the 
queen  mother  favored  his  wishes ;  ^  but  ditticuhies 
arose  and  interminable  disputes  ensued  on  t'lc 
question,  whether  the  proposed  bishopric  shoiiM 
depend  immediately  on  the  Pope  or  on  the  Aich- 
bishop  of  Roue^..  It  was  a  revival  of  the  old  quar- 
rel of  Galilean  and  ultrajnontane.  Laval,  woary  of 
hope  deferred,  at  length  declared  that  he  Avould 
leave  the  colony  if  he  could  not  be  its  ])isliu|)  in 
title ;  and  in  1674,  after  eleven  years  of  deli)-,  the 
king  yielded  to  the  Pope's  demands,  and  Xhv  viear 
apostolic  became  first  bishop  of  Quebec. 

If  Laval  had  to  wait  for  his  mitre,  he  found  no 
delay  and  no  difficulty  ui  attaining  anoLlicr  objeit 
no  less  dear  to  him.  He  wished  to  provide  pries^ts 
for  Canada,  drawn  from  the  Canadian  population, 
fed  witli  sound  and  •  L  .desome  doctrine,  roared 
under  his  eye,  and  mo  'Ided  by  his  hand.  To  this 
end  he  proposed  to  establish  a  seminary  at  (Quebec. 
The  phiu  found  favor  with  the  pious  king,  and  ;i 
decree  signed  by  his  hand  sanctioned  and  conlirnied 
it.  The  new  seminary  was  to  be  a  corporation  of 
priests  under  a  superior  chosen  by  the  bishop; 
and,  besides  its  functions  of  instruction,  it  was  vested 
with   distinct  and  extraordinary  powers.      Lival, 


»  Aum  (VAuti'che  a  Laval,  23  Avril,  1002;  Lnuis  XIV.  an  Popp,  '23 
Jan  1004;  L'vis  XIV.  au  Due  de  Creijui/,  Ainbassadeur  a  Ivmu',  «!i 
Junt,  i004. 


xil'jt'ct  are  prim 


SL'iiiiimr\ , 


loo2-»'*.! 


THE  PARISH   PrtlEST. 


161 


an  organizer  and  a  clisciijllnarian  bj  nature  and 
training,  would  fain  subject  the  priests  of  his 
diocese  to  a  control  as  complete  as  that  of  monks 
in  a  convent.  In  France,  the  cure  or  parish  priest 
waSj  with  rare  exceptions,  a  fixture  in  his  parish, 
whence  he  could  be  removed  only  for  grave  reasons, 
and  through  prescribed  forms  of  procedure.  Hence 
he  was  to  a  certain  degree  independent  of  the 
bishop.  Laval,  on  the  contrary,  demanded  that 
the  Canadian  cure  should  be  removable  at  his  ^vill, 
and  thus  placed  in  the  position  of  a  missionary, 
to  come  and  go  at  the  order  of  his  superior.  In 
fact,  the  Canadian  parishes  were  for  a  long  time  so 
widely  scattered,  so  feeble  in  population,  and  so 
miserably  poor,  that,  besides  the  disciplinary  jul  van- 
tages of  this  plan,  its  adoption  was  at  first  almost 
a  matter  of  necessity.  It  added  greatly  to  the 
power  of  the  church  ;  and,  as  the  colony  increased, 
the  kino^  and  the  minister  conceived  an  increasini!: 
distrust  of  it.  Instructions  for  the  "  fixation  "  of 
the  cures  were  repeatedly  sent  to  the  colony,  and 
the  bishop,  while  professing  to  obey,  repeatedly 
evaded  them.  Various  fluctuations  and  changes 
took  ])hice  ;  but  Ltival  had  built  on  strong  fouiKhi- 
tlons.  and  at  this  day  the  system  of  removable 
ciu'es  prevails  in  most  of  the  Canadhui  parishes.^ 
*  Thus  he  formed  his  clerg}'  into  a  family  v/itli 


if '?' 
IP' 


'  On  tlic  t'stablislimcnt  of  tlie  seminary.  Mujuhmcht  (U  I'l^Jrei/ur  dp 
P''1r&,  jKiiu-  r Elulilissriitr)it  <iii  Seinlndire  de  Quebec;  Apinnhntion  dn  /ioi/ 
[Edits  vt  Ordohuauces,  I.  88,  86);  La  Tour,  T7«;  df  l.aral,  Liv.  VI.; 
hsijiiinsi  di  hi  Vic  dc  Litvid,  Appt'iidi.x.  Variniu-i  pMiicrs  bf.iriiiy-  on  tlie 
Miljeet  ail'  prititcd  in  the  Canudiau  Afx  ille,  •"roni  originals  in  tiie  archives 
of  the  seuiinurv. 

11 


162 


LAVAL  AND   THE   SEMINARY. 


[1GG2-80. 


tt" 


liim.self  at  its  head.  His  seminary,  the  mother  ^vho 
had  reared  them,  was  fm'ther  charged  to  nialntaiji 
them,  nurse  them  in  sickness,  and  support  tliciu  in 
old  age.  Under  her  maternal  roof  the  tired  jn-icsi 
found  repose  among  his  brethren ;  and  thithor 
every  year  he  repaired  from  the  charge  of  his 
flock  in  the  wilderness,  to  freshen  his  devotion 
and  animate  his  zeal  by  a  season  of  meditation 
and  prayer. 

The  difficult  task  remained  to  provide  the  neces- 
sary funds.  Laval  imposed  a  tithe  of  one-thirieeiitli 
on  all  products  of  the  soil,  or,  as  afterwards  sottk'd. 
on  grains  alone.  This  tithe  was  paid  to  the  sem- 
inary, cind  by  the  seminary  to  the  priests.  Tlic 
people,  unused  to  such  a  burden,  clamored  and 
resisted  ;  and  Mezy,  in  his  disputes  with  the  bishop. 
had  t^dven  advantage  of  their  discontent.  It  be- 
came necessary  to  reduce  the  tithe  to  a  twenty- 
sixth,  which,  as  there  was  little  or  no  monev  ainon'r 
the  inhabitants,  was  paid  in  kind.  Nevertheless. 
tlie  scnttered  and  impoverished  settlers  grudged 
even  this  contiibution  to  the  support  of  a  priest 
whom  many  of  them  rarely  saw ;  and  the  <'oUectlou 
of  it  became  a  matter  of  the  o^reatest  ditiicultv  and 
unc(n-tainty.  How  the  king  came  to  the  rescue, 
we  shall  hereafter  see. 

Besides  the  great  seminary  where  young  inc% 
wer«'  ti'smed  for  the  priesthood,  there  was  the 
lesser  seminary  where  hoys  were  educated  in  the 
hope  tliat  they  would  one  day  take  orders.  This 
school  began  in  1GG8,  with  elglit  French  ami 
six  Indian  pupils,  in   the   old  house   of  Madanu 


16G2-80.] 


ENDOWMENTS    OF   LAVAL. 


1G3 


CouilliU'd  ;  l)utsofaras  the  Indians  wore  concerned 
it  was  a  failure.  Sooner  or  later  tliev  all  ran  wild 
in  the  woods,  carrying  with  them  as  fruits  of  their 
studies  a  sutficiency  of  prayers,  offices,  and  chants 
learned  by  rote,  along  with  a  feel)le  smattering  of 
Latin  aiid  rhetoric,  which  they  soon  dropped  by 
tlie  wav.  There  was  also  a  sort  of  farm-school 
attached  to  the  seminary,  for  the  training  of  a 
liimihler  class  of  pupils.  It  Avas  established  at  the 
parish  of  St.  Joachim,  below  Quebec,  Avhcre  the 
children  of  artisans  and  peasants  were  taught  farm- 
ing and  various  mechanic;il  arts,  and  thoroughly 
oTounded  in  tbo  doctrine  and  .disci])line  of  the 
chiircli.^  Tiie  Great  and  Lesser  Seminary  still  sub- 
sist, and  form  one  of  the  most  important  Roman 
Catholic  institutions  on  this  continent.  To  them 
has  recently  been  added  the  Laval  University,  rest- 
ing on  the  same  foundation,  and  supported  by  the 
same  funds. 

AVhence  Avore  these  funds  derived  ?  Laval,  in 
order  to  imitate  the  poverty  of  the  apostles,  had 
divested  himself  of  his  property  before  he  came  to 
Canada  ;  otherwise  there  is  little  doubt  that  in  the 
fulness  of  his  zeal  he  would  have  devoted  it  to  his 
favorite  object.  But  if  he  had  no  pro])erty  he 
had  iulluence,  and  his  familv  had  both  inlluence 
and  wealth.  He  acquired  vast  grants  of  land  in 
the  l)est  parts  of  Cana*ha.  Some  of  these  he  sold 
or  exchanged  ;    others  he   retained  till   the  year 

'  AiiiKiles  dn  Petit  Seiniiiairc  de  QhcIkc,  see  Ahiillr,  Vol.  I.  ;   Xatire  His 
toriijiii  sur  le  Petit  St'inimtiie  de  Qnebir,  /liid.,  Vol.  II.  ;   Xotice  Ilisloriffiie  siit 
la  I'divisse  de  St.  .hnvhiiii,  Il'id.,  Vol.  1.     The  Aheille  is  a  journal  pub- 
lished l)v  ihf  seuiinary. 


1G4 


LAVAL  AND   THE   SEMINARY. 


[IW'J-so, 


::!>•■ 


1G80,  when  he  gave  them,  with  nearly  ah  else  that 
he  then  possessed,  to  his  seminary  at  Quebec.  The 
hinds  witli  wliioh  he  thus  endowed  it  inchidci]  ih,. 
seigniories  of  the  Petite  Nation,  the  ishand  of  Jesus, 
and  Beaupre.  The  last  is  of  great  extent,  iind  at 
the  present  day  of  immense  value.  Beginuiiin-  a 
few  miles  below  (Quebec,  it  borders  the  8t.  Law- 
rence for  a  distance  of  sixteen  leagues,  and  is  six- 
leagues  in  depth,  measured  from  the  river.  Froni 
these  sources  the  seminary  still  draws  an  abundant 
revenue,  though  its  seigniorial  rights  were  com- 
muted on  the  recent  extinction  of  the  feudal  tenure 
in  Canada. 

Well  (Ud  Laval  deserve  that  his  name  sliouid 
live  in  that  of  the  university  which  a  centur\'  and 
a  half  after  his  death  owed  its  existence  to  his 
bounty.  This  fatlier  of  the  Canadian  church,  wlio 
has  left  so  deep  an  impress  on  one  of  the  commu- 
nities Avliich  form  the  vast  population  of  North 
America,  belonged  to  a  type  of  character  to  which 
an  even  justice  is  rarely  done.  AVith  the  excep- 
tion of  the  Canadian  Garneau,  a  liberal  Catholic. 
those  who  have  treated  of  him,  have  seen  him 
through  a  medium  intensely  Eomanist,  coloiing. 
hiding,  and  exaggerating  by  turns  both  his  action- 
and  the  traits  of  his  character.  Tried  by  the 
Eomanist  standard,  his  merits  w^ere  great ;  thongh 
the  extraordinary  influence  which  he  exercised  in 
the  ail'airs  of  the  colony  were,  as  already  obseived, 
by  no  means  due  to  his  spiritual  graces  alone.  To 
a  saint  sprung  from  the  haute  noblesse,  P^arth  and 
Heaven  were  alike  propitious.      When  the  vicar- 


10C2-8O.] 


LAVAL'S  POSITION. 


165 


froneral  Colombicrc  pronounced  his  funeral  eulogy 
in  the  sounding  periods  of  Bossuet,  he  did  not  fail 
t(i  exhibit  him  on  the  ancestral  pedestal  where  his 
virtue's  would  shine  with  redoubled  lustre.     "  The 
exploits  of  the  heroes  of  the  House  of  Montnio- 
iviit'V,"  exclaims  the  reverend  orator,  ''  form  one 
of  tlie  fairest  chapters  m  the  annals  of  Old  France ; 
the  heroic   acts   of   charity,   humility,   and   faith, 
acliii'ved  by  a  Montmorency,  form  one  of  the  fairest 
in  the  annals  of  New  France.     The  combats,  victo- 
ries, and  conquests  of  the  Montmorency  in  Europe 
would  lill  whole  volumes ;   and  so,  too,  w  ould  the 
t:iuiu[)hs  won  by  a  Montmorency,  m  America,  over 
sin,  passion,  and  the  devil."     Then  he  crowns  the 
liio'li-horn  })relate  with  a  halo  of  fourfold  saintship. 
•  It  was  with  good  reason  that  Providence  permitted 
him  to  be  called  Francis :  for  the  virtues  of  all  the 
siiiuts  of  that  name  were  combined  in  him  ;  the  zeal 
of  Saint  Francis  Xavier,  the  charit}^  of  Saint  Fran- 
cis of  Sales,  the  poverty  of  Saint  Francis  of  Assissi, 
the  self-mortihcation  of  Saint  Francis  Borgia ;  but 
poverty  was  the  mistress  of  his  heart,  and  he  loved 
her  with  incontroUable  transports." 

Tlie  stories  which  Colombiere  proceeds  to  tell  of 
LavaFs  asceticism  are  confirmed  by  other  evidence, 
and  are,  no  doubt,  true.  Nor  is  there  any  reason- 
able doubt  that,  had  the  bishop  stood  in  the  place  of 
Brebeuf  or  Charles  Lalemant,  he  would  have  suf- 
fered torture  and  death  like  them.  But  it  was  his 
lot  to  strive,  not  against  infidel  savages,  bnt  against 
countrymen  and  Catholics,  who  had  no  disposition 
to  l)urn  him,  and  would  rather  have  done  him 
reverence  than  wrong. 


166 


LAVAL   A\D   THE   SEMIXAUY. 


1002-80, 


To  comprehend  liis  actions  and  motives,  jt  js 
necessjuy  to  know  his  ideas  in  regard  to  llic  ivLi- 
tions  of  church  and  state.  'I'liey  were  those  of 
the  extreme  nltramontanes,  which  a  recent  Jesuit 
preacher  has  expressed  Avith  toleral)le  distinctness. 
In  a  sermon  uttered  in  the  Church  of  Notre  Dame. 
at  Montreal,  on  the  first  of  Novendjer,  ISTll,  he 
thus  announced  them.  •'  The  supremacy  i\M  in- 
falUhility  of  the  Pope;  the  independence  and  lil»ertv 
of  the  church;  the  st(ho)'dlnatlon  (Did  )<uhtinsxii,i} 
of  the  strife  to  the  chvrch ;  in  case  of  coiillict 
between  them,  the  chnrch  to  decide,  the  state  to 
submit :  for  whoever  follows  and  defends  these 
principles,  life  and  a  Idessing ;  for  whoever  rejecrs 
and  combats  them,  death  and  a  curse."  ^ 

These  were  th(^  principles  whicli  Laval  and  tho 
Jesuits  strove  to  make  good.  Christ  was  to  rule 
in  Canada  throngh  his  deputy  the  bishop,  and  ( Jod's 
law  was  to  triumph  over  the  laws  of  man.  As  in 
the  halcyon  da\'s  of  Champlain  raid  Montinagiiy. 
the  governor  was  to  be  the  right  hand  of  the 
church,  to  wield  the  earthly  sword  at  her  l^idding. 
and  the  council  was  to  be  the  ap:ent  of  lier  hi^h 
behests. 

France  was  drifting  toAvard  the  triumph  of  the 
parti  devot,  the  sinister  reign  of  petticoat  and  cas- 
sock, the  era  of  Maintenon  and  Tellier,  and  the 

1  Tliis  sermon  was  preached  by  Fatlier  Braun,  S  J,,  on  occasion  of  the 
"  Golden  Weddinj?,"  or  fiftietii  anniversary,  of  Bishop  Bour<j:et  of  Mdii- 
treal.  A  large  body  of  tlie  Canadian  cler[;y  were  present,  some  of  whom 
t)iou<rlit  his  expressions  too  emphatic.  A  translation  by  another  Jesuit 
is  published  in  the  "  Montreal  Weekly  Herald"  of  Nov.  2,  1872;  ami 
the  above  extract  is  copied  verhatiin. 


\ 


1062-80.] 


MENTAL  CONDITION  OF  LAVAL. 


167 


fatal  iiti'ocitios  of  the  (lra«''()iiiia(los.  Yet  the  aflvaiic- 
iii<>-  tide  of  priestly  douiinatioii  did  not  flow  smoothly. 
The  unparalleled  prestige  which  surronnded  the 
throne  of  the  young  king,  joined  to  his  quarrels 
with  the  Pope  and  divisions  in  the  church  itself,  dis- 
turbed, though  they  could  not  check  its  progress. 
Ill  Canada  it  was  otherwise.  The  colony  had  been 
ruled  hv  priests  from  the  beginning,  and  it  only 
leiiuiined  to  continue  in  her  future  the  law  of  her 
past.  She  was  the  fold  of  Chiist ;  the  wolf  of  civil 
iiovi'inment  was  among  the  flock,  and  Laval  and 
tliu  Jesuits,  watchfvd  she[)lierds,  were  doing  their 
best  to  chain  and  muzzle  him. 

According  to  Argenson,  Laval  had  said,  '^  A 
l)isliop  can  do  what  he  likes ; "  and  his  action  an- 
swered reasonaldy  well  to  his  words,  lie  thought 
himself  above  human  law.  In  vindicating  the 
assumed  ri'''hts  of  the  church,  he  uivaded  the  I'l^i-hts 
of  others,  and  used  means  from  which  a  healthy 
conscience  would  have  shrunk.     All  his  thoui'-hts 

o 

and  sympathies  had  run  from  child liood  in  ecclesi- 
astical channels,  luid  he  cared  for  nothing  outside 
the  church.  Prayer,  meditation,  and  asceticism  had 
leavened  and  moulded  him.  Durino-  four  vears  he 
had  been  steeped  in  the  mysticism  of  the  Hermi- 
tage, which  had  for  its  aim  the  annihilation  of  self, 
and  through  self-annihilation  the  absorption  into 
<io(l.'  He  had  passed  from  a  life  of  visions  to  a  life 
of  action.  Earnest  to  fanaticism,  he  saw  but  one 
great  object,  the  glory  of  God  on  earth.  lie  was 
penetrated  by  the  poisonous  casuistry  of  the  Jesuits, 

^  See  the  miixini!!  of  Bernieres,  published  by  La  Tour. 


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1G8 


LAVAL  AND   THE  SEMLNARY. 


[I'''j2-h0. 


based  on  the  assuniption  that  all  means  ai<'  jiur- 
niitted  when  the  end  is  the  service  of  God  ;  and  as 
Laval,  in  his  own  opinion,  was  always  doiiiu'  tlii- 
service  of  God,  wJiile  his  opjoonents  were  alwavs 
doing  that  of  the  devil,  he  enjoyed,  in  the  use  ul 
means,  a  latitude  of  which  we  have  seen  him  a\iiil 
himself. 


FuVTAINEnLEA 
TIIK  U'ksT, 
CoiKCKf.Li: 
tEKKS.  —  T 


1^.   J 


1&, 


«Jfe: 


ila/.zliiio-   jii 


11. 


THE    COLONY    AND    THE    KING. 


CHAPTER   X. 


1661-lGC.j. 


nOYAL   INTERVENTION. 


Fosr.vivKnLEAU.  —  Louis  XIV.  —  Couikrt.  —  The  Compavt  of 
TiiK  \Vkst.  —  Evil  Omkns.  —  Action  of  tiik  King.  —  Tracy, 
("ot  nci;i.LK,    ANi>    Talon.  —  Tiik    He(jimknt    ok    Cauignan-Sal- 

xkuV.H.  —  TllACY    AT    QUKHEC.  —  MlRA'LES    —  A    IIOLY    WaU. 

Lkave  CaniuUi  beliind ;  cross  the  sea,  and  stand, 
on  ail  evening  in  Jnne,  by  the  edge  of  the  forest  of 
Fontainebleau.  Beyond  the  Ijroad  gardens,  above 
the  \o\vf  rano'es  of  moonlit  trees,  rise  the  walls 
and  ])iiniacles  of  the  vast  chateau ;  a  shrine  of  his- 
t()i\ ,  the  u'oru'eous  nionunient  of  lines  of  vanished 
kiii^s,  haunted  with  memories  of  Capet,  Valois,  and 
Boui'hon. 

There  was  little  tliought  of  the  past  at  Fon- 
taiiu'hleau  in  June,  lOOl.  The  present  was  too 
ila/.zling  and  too  intoxicating ;  the  future,  too 
radiant  with  hope  and  ])r()mise.  It  was  the  morn- 
iii<i'  of  a  new  reign  ;  the  sun  of  Louis  XIV.  was 
risiiin'  in  si)lend()r,  and  the  rank  and  beautv  of 
France  were  gathered  to  ])ay  it  liomage.  A  youth- 
tul  court,  a  youthful  king;  a  i)()nip  and   niagnili- 


170 


IU)YAL  INTKRVEXTION. 


[1601. 


lie] 


■I 

w 


C'onco  sucli  iis  JMii'opc' 


1^ 


had 


never  seen 


;  ii  <lclimiin 


of  nnihition.  pleasure,  and  love,  —  wronglit  in  manv 
a  young  heart  an  eneliantmont  destined  lo  he 
ei'uelly  hroken.  Kven  old  conrtiers  felt  the  I'asci- 
nation  of  the  seene,  and  tell  ns  of  the  nnisic  nt 
eveninii;  hv  the  l)oi'dcrs  of  the  lake;  of  ll 
<^;roups   that  strolled    under   the    shado\vin<:-   li 


IC     u';|V 


ve 


or 


floated  in  gilded  barges  on  the  still  watei- 
moved  slowly  in  open  carriages  around  its  borders. 
Here  was  Anne  of  Austria,  the  king's  niothci'.  and 
^Farie  Thei'ese,  his  tender  and  jealous  (jueeii ;  his 
brother,  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  with  his  bride  of 
sixteen,  llenriette  of  England  ;  and  his  favorite. 
that  vicious  butterfly  of  the  conrt,  the  Count  dc 
(luiche.  Here,  too,  were  the  hinn])led  chiefs  of  the 
civil  war,  Beaufort  and  Conde,  ol)se(piious  bcfoiv 
their  triumphant  master.  Louis  Xl\^.,  the  centra 
of  all  eyes,  in  the  flush  of  health  and  vigoi'.  nnd 
the  pride  of  new-lledged  royalty,  stood,  as  he  still 
stands  on  the  canvas  of  Philippe  de  Chani])iiu'ne. 
attired  in  a  splendor  which  would  have  l)een  ef- 
feminate but  for  the  stately  port  of  the  youth  who 
wore  it.' 


Foi'tune  had  been  strano'ely  bountiful  to  hi 


in. 


The  nations  of  Eiirc'>e.  exhausted  by  wars  and  dis- 
sensions,  looked  upon  him  with  respect  and  fear. 
Among  weak  and  weary  neighbors,  he  alone  was 
strong.  The  death  of  Mazarin  had  released  him 
from  tutelage  ;  feudalism   in   the  person  of  Cumlc 

'  On  th--  visit  (if  tlu'  t'ourt  at  Fontaiiicblciiii  in  ti.e  summer  of  VA\, 
see  Mtfinolrm  <h  Mmhimi-  de  Mottct'lllc,  Mtfiiiolres  (If  Mmhimo  lU  L<i  I'lii/ittc, 
Mi^moircs  lie  I'AUitf  dc  CItoisi/,  and  WalckenaiT,  Me'moins  sur  Miuiamt  de 
Sei-ii/inf, 


tanges    wi 


I'iOl.j 


LOUIS  XIV. 


171 


was  alijc'ct  Ijeforc  liini ;  he  luul  reduce'd  his  pnHia- 
iiicnts  to  siil)inlssion  ;  and,  in  the  arrest  of  the 
ainhitiuus  prodigal  Foucjiiet,  he  was  preparing  a 
.•nisliing  hlow  to  the  finaneial  corruption  which 
iiad  devoured   France. 

Nature  had  foruied  him  to  act  the  part  of  king, 
p^vcii  his  critics  and  enemies  praise  the  grace  and 
majesty  of  his  presence,  and  lie  impressed  his 
(ourticrs  witli  an  adiuiration  which  seems  to  have 
Itecu  to  an  astonishing  degree  genuine,  lie  car- 
ried airs  of  royalty  even  into  his  pleasures ;  and, 
while  his  example  corrupted  all  France,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  the  apartments  of  Montespan  or  Fon- 
tanges  with  the  majestic  gravity  of  Olympian 
Jove.  He  was  a  devout  ohserver  of  the  forms  of 
religion  ;  and,  as  the  huoyancy  of  youth  i)asse(l 
awa\',  his  zeal  was  stimulated  hy  a  profound  fear 
of  the  devil.  Mazarin  had  reared  him  in  igno- 
rance ;  hut  his  faculties  were  excellent  in  their  way, 
and.  in  a  private  station,  would  have  made  him  an 
ellivient  man  of  business.  The  vivacity  of  his 
])as>:i()ns,  and  his  inordinate  love  of  pleasure,  Avere 
joined  to  a  persistent  wall  and  a  rare  j)ower  of 
lahor.  The  vi^'orous  mcdiocritv  of  his  understand- 
ing  delighted  in  grappling  with  details.  His  as- 
tonished courtiers  saw  him  take  on  himself  the 
burden  of  administration,  and  Avork  at  it  without 
relenting  for  more  than  half  a  century.  Great  as 
was  his  energy,  his  pride  was  hir  greater.  As 
king  l»y  divine  right,  he  felt  himself  raised  im- 
niea,-in'al)ly  above  the  highest  of  his  subjects ; 
hut.  while  vindicating  Avith  iniparalleled  haughti- 


172 


ROYAL  INTKRVENTION. 


[1001. 


■'ff 


'■Ik- 

w 


'I 


ness  his  claims  to  supremo  authority,  lie  w,i>.  nt 
the  outset,  filled  with  a  sense  of  the  (hities  di  his 
high  place,  and  iired  hj  an  ambition  to  lutikc  his 
reign  beneficent  to  France  as  well  as  glorious  to 
himself. 

Above  all  rulers  of  modern  times,  he  w;i<  the 
embodiment  of  tlie  monarchical  idea.  Tlie  Iniiiuiis 
words  ascribed  to  him,  ''  I  am  the  state,"  wcrt' 
proba))ly  never  uttered;  but  thev  perfect !\  ex- 
press his  spirit.  ''It  is  God's  will,"  he  wrote  in 
IGGG,  ''that  whoever  is  born  a  subject  shouM  not 
reason,  but  obey  ;  "  ^  and  those  around  liim  wvw  of 
his  mind.  "  The  state  is  in  the  king,"  said  l)os- 
suet,  the  great  mouthpiece  of  monarchy;  -th' 
will  of  the  people  is  merged  in  his  will.  Oh 
kings,  j)ut  forth  your  j)o\ver  boldly,  for  it  is  divine 
and  salutary  to  luuuan  kiud."*'^ 

For  a  few  brief  years,  his  reign  was  indeed  salu- 
tary to  France,  llis  judgment  of  men,  when  not 
obscured  by  his  pride  and  his  passion  for  fhittcrv. 
was  good ;  and  he  had  at  his  service  the  gciieriils 
and  statesmen  formed  in  the  freer  and  bolder  epoch 
that  had  ended  with  his  accession.  Amonu'  tlicin 
was  Jean  Baptiste  Colbert,  formerly  the  intciidanr 
of  Mazarin's  household,  a  man  whose  eiieruies 
matched  his  talents,  and  Avho  had  presei'vei]  \\\< 
rectitude  in  the  midst  of  corruption.  It  \vns  a 
hard  task  that  Colbert  imposed  on  his  proud  and 
violent  nature  to  serve  the  imperious  king,  mor- 
bidly jealous  of    his  authority,   and   resolved   to 


1   (Enms  (le  Lmih  XIV.,  TI.  283. 

'^  Bossuet,  Politique  tir€t  de  I'Evrilure  sainte,  .370  (1843). 


1664. 


COLHKHT. 


I/O 


af'C('|)i  no  iuitiMtivo  Imt  his  own.  \\v  imist  counsol 
wliilt'  si'cniln^ij^  to  rocoive  counsel,  and  lead  while 
M'ciiiinL!,'  to  follow.  The  new  minister  bent  hiin- 
self  to  the  task,  and  the  nation  reaped  the  profit. 
A  vast  svsteni  of  reform  was  set  in  action  amid  the 
otitciies  of  nobles,  financiers,  churchmen,  and  all 
who  profited  by  abuses.  The  methods  of  this 
rofonn  were  trenchant  and  sometimes  violent,  and 
irs  principles  were  not  always  in  accord  with  those 
of  modern  economic  science  ;  but  the  good  that  re- 
siilti'd  was  incalculable.  The  burdens  of  the  labor- 
ing classes  were  lightened,  the  public  revenues 
iiirrcascd,  and  the  w  holesale  plunder  of  the  public 
nioncv  arrested  with  a  stron<j^  hand.  Laws  were 
ivfornied  and  codified  ;  feudal  tyrarny,  which  still 
subsisted  in  many  quarters,  was  repressed  ;  agri- 
riilture  and  productive  industry  of  all  kinds  were 
encouraged,  roads  and  canals  opened,  trade  stimu- 
lated, a  commercial  marine  created,  and  a  powerful 
navv  foi'uicd  as  if  by  magic* 

It  is  in  his  connnercial,  industrial,  and  colonial 
policy  that  the  profound  defects  of  the  great  min- 
ister's system  are  most  apparent.  It  was  a  system 
of  authority,  monopoly,  and  exclusion,  in  which 
the  government,  and  not  the  individual,  acted 
always  the  foremost  part.  Upright,  incorruptible, 
ardent  for  the  public  good,  inflexible,  arrogant, 
and  domineering,  he  sought  to  drive  France  into 
paths  of  prosperity,  and  create  colonies  by  the 


•  Oil  C()ll)ert,  see  Clement,  Ilisloire  de  Colhert.  Clement,  Lottres  d 
if^mfinvs  tie  Colhert;  Cliornel,  Adiniriistration  vinnnrchique  en  France,  II. 
chap.  vi.  Henri  Martin,  IJistoire  de  France,  XIII.,  etc. 


174 


ROYAL  INTKItVKXTIOX. 


[WA 


IKl.  t(i 
'-I'lVill 


ener<^'y  of  an  iiii|H'rial  Avill.  Hc'  feared,  and  with 
reason,  tliat  tlie  want  of  entei'prise  and  ciipit;!! 
anionic:  i\n'  merchants  would  i)i'event  tin  Ihoik' 
and  innnediate  I'esults  at  wliicdi  he  ainie<l 
secure  these  results,  he  established  a  series  of 
trading  corporations,  in  which  the  principlcv^  (,t 
privilege  and  excdnsion  were  pushed  to  theii'  inmost 
limits.  Prominent  among  them  was  the  Conipnin 
of  the  West.  The  king  signed  the  edict  creating; 
it  on  the  24th  of  May,  KKU.  Any  person  in  the 
kingdom  or  out  of  it  might  become  a  partnei- li\ 
su)>scril)in«2:,  within  a  certain  time,  not  les,>  tliaii 


tl 


n-ee 


tl 


If: 


lousand  irancs 


ranee  was  a  mere 


))at( 


on  the  map,  compared  to  the  vast  domains  of  tli 
new  association.  Western  Africa  from  Ca])e  Wri 
to  the  Cape  of  Good   Hone,  South   America  Ik 


ipc 


pe. 


tween  the  Amazon  and  the  Orinoco,  Cayenne,  tlic 
Antilles,  and  all  New  Fi'ance,  from  Hudson's  jB;!v 
to  Virii-inia  and  Florida  were  Ijestowed  on  it 


loi' 


ever,  to  be  held  of  the  down  on  the  simple  condi- 
tion of  faith  {ind  hom.".ge.  As.  accord. ng  U)  tlic 
edict,  the  <>"lorv  of  God  was  the  chief  obicct  in 
view,  the  company  Avas  requirefl  to  su})ph'  its  pos- 
sessioris  with  a  suthcient  nnmljer  of  priests,  ami 
diligently  to  exclude  all  teachers  of  false  doctiini'. 
It  was  em])owered  to  biiihl  forts  and  war-ships. 
cast    cannon,    wau^e   war,    make 


)eace, 


es 


tahlisli 

courts,  appoint  judges,  and  otherwise  to  ad  ii^ 
sovereign  within  its  own  domains.  A  mon(>polv 
of  trade  was  gninted  it  for  fortv  years. ^  Snuar 
from  the  Antilles,  and  im's  from  Canada,  were  the 

*  Edit  <r Ji'ublist!e:.u)it  dt  la  CoinjKK/nie  dts  Iiidts  Occidciitults. 


it)i;4-';^] 


MONOroLY. 


I/O 


•liicf  source  of  oxpiM'tcd  profit  ;  ;m<l  AlVicM  was  to 
qi|)|)lv  the  slaves  to  rjiis(»  the  su^L-'ar.  Scarcely 
the   u'raiid   inachinc   set    in   motion,   when   its 


\vi> 


(li 


rector; 


))eti 


I'aved   a  narrowness  am 


1  hi 


ni(n»ess  o 


L" 


p()]i(\  which  hoded  the  enterprise  no  p:oo(h  Can- 
ada was  a  (diief  sufferer.  Once  more,  hound  hand 
iiud  foot,  she  was  handed  over  to  a  selfish  league 
of  merchants;  monoj)()ly  in  trade,  monopoly  in 
ivliLiioii.  mononolv  in  «i'overinnent.  >'ohod\'  hut 
tlu'  comnanv  had  u  rijji'ht  to  brinur  her  the  iiecessa- 
rics  of  life;  and  nohody  hut  the  company  had  a 
riuht  to  exercise  the  tratlic  whitdi  alone  coidd  <''ivo 
jiei'  the  means  of  paying  for  these  necessaries. 
Moivuver,  the  supplie^.  which  it  brought  were  in- 
sutlicient,  and  the  prices  which  it  demanded  were 
exoi'hitant.  It  was  throttling  its  wretcdu'd  victim. 
The  Canadian  mercdiants  remonstrated.'  It  was 
clear  that,  if  the  colony  was  to  live,  the  svstem 
must  he  chanwd  ;  and  a  change  was  accordiimlv 
oi'dercd.  The  company  gave  up  its  monopoly  of 
tlie  fur  trade,  but  reserved  the  riii'ht  to  lew  a 
dut\-  of  one-fourth  of  the  beaver-skins,  and  one- 
teiiih  of  the  moose-skins:  and  it  also  reserved  the 
eiit  re  trade  of  Tadoussac  ;  that  is  to  sa\",  the  trade 
of  all  the  tribes  between  the  lower  St.  Lawrence  and 
Hudson's  Bay.  It  retained  besides  the  exclusive 
right  of  transporting  furs  in  its  own  ships,  thus 
coiitroiiing  the  connnerce  of  Canada,  and  discour- 
nging.  or  rather  extinguishing,  the  enteri)rise  of 
Canadian  merchants.     On  its  t)art,  it  was  re(|uired 


LeUre  da  Couneil  Souverain  a  Colherf,  1G08. 


no 


«M 


KOYAL  IXTKIIVKNTIOX. 


[I '-''4-68. 


1^5^ 


-i»*i 


to  pny  (^^ovcniors.  jiidnos,  and  all  tlic  coloulal  otfi- 
ciiils  out  of  the  duties  wliich  it  levied. • 

Yet  the  king  had  the  prosperity  of  Caiiiidn  at 
heart ;  and  he  proeeeded  to  show  his  inteicst  in 
her  after  a  manner  hardly  consistent  with  lii<  late 
action  in  handing  her  over  to  a  mercenary  guardian. 
In  fact,  he  acted  as  if  she  had  still  rcMnaine*]  imdci- 
his  paternal  cai'c.  He  had  just  conferred  the  rji-iit 
of  naming  a  governor  and  intendant  upon  the  new 
company  ;  hut  he  now  assumed  it  himself,  the  coiii- 
pany,  with  a  just  sense  of  its  own  unfitness,  readily 
consenting  to  this  suspension  of  one  of  its  most  im- 
portant i)rivileges.  Daniel  de  Kemy,  Sieur  de  Cour- 
celle.  was  ap[)()inted  governor,  and  Jean  Haptisti} 
Talon  intendant."^  The  nature  of  this  duplicate 
government  will  appear  hereafter.  But,  hoFore 
appointing  rulers  for  Canada,  the  king  had  ap- 
pointed a  representative  of  the  Crown  for  all  his 
American  domains.  The  Mareclial  d'Estradcs  had 
for  some  time  held  the  title  of  vicerov  for  Amcr- 
ica  ;  jind,  as  he  could  not  fulfil  the  duties  of  that 
office,  being  at  the  time  andnissador  in  nolhuid. 
the  Marquis  de  T;acy  was  sent  in  his  placcj  with 
the  title  of  lieutenant-general.^ 

'  Arret  da  ('o)is(H  tin  I\(ii/  r/iii  irrnrdc  a  la  Coinptujuie  le  quart  (hsrnstny, 
Ic  (lixll'iiH'  (/fs  ori'inaur  et  la  traitc de  J'adoiissar  ;  Instruction  it  Monsiiijiiiur  ili- 
Tracji  ct  a  Messieurs  le  Gouvniinir  et  I' Inteiidarit. 

Tliis  c'oinpaiiy  prospered  as  little  iis  the  rest  of  CoII)ert's  tniilin;; 
companies.  Within  ten  years  it  lost  8, 02:!, 000  livres,  besides  hh;:litinj,' 
tlie  colonies  placed  under  its  control.  Ixec/urches  sitr  les  Finnucm,  citi'il  by 
Cloinent,  IJistuire  de  Colhert. 

•  t'oiniiiission  de  Lieutenant  Ce'n&al  en  Canada,  etc.,  pour  M.  de  Courcelle, 
23  Mar.-i,  lOiJo  ;  C'oinniission  d'/ntendant  de  la  Justice,  Police,  et  Finances  en 
Canada,  etc.,  po'ir  M.  Talon,  23  J/«r.s,  1GG6. 

3  Coniviission  de  Lieutenant  CiOieral  de  V Am&ique  M^ridionale  et  Sep- 
tetitrionale  pour  M.  Proucill    de  Tract/,  19  Nov.,  1GG3. 


ICCo 


AKKIVAL  OF  TRACY. 


177 


Caiiiidji  at  this  time  ^vas  an  ohject  of  very  con- 
sidcniMc  attention  at  court,  and  especially  in  what 
was  l^nown  as  the  ^jr/r/i  ch't'ot.  The  lidations  ot' 
tlu!  Jesuits,  appealin<z,'  ecjually  to  the  sjnrit  of  re- 
ligion and  the  spirit  of  romantic  adventure,  had,  for 
iiiuic  than  i\  ([uarter  of  a  century,  been  the  favor- 
ik'  reading'  of  the  devout,  and  the  visit  of  Laval  at 
court  had  <^'reatly  slimulated  the  interest  they  had 
kindled.  The  letters  of  Argenson,  and  especially 
ol'  Avaugour,  iiad  shown  the  vast  political  possi- 
liilities  of  the  young  colon},  and  opened  a  vista  of 
future  glories  jilike  lor  church  and  for  king. 

So,  when  Tracy  set  sail  he  found  no  lack  of 
followers.  A  throng  "^f  young  nobles  endjarked  with 
liiiii.  eager  to  explore  the  nuirvels  and  mysteries  of 
the  western  world.  The  king  gave  him  two  hundred 
soldiers  of  the  regiment  of  Carignan-Salieres,  and 
promised  that  a  thousand  more  should  follow. 
After  spending  more  than  a  year  in  the  West  In- 
dies, where,  as  Mother  Alary  of  the  Incarnation 
expresses  it,  "  he  performed  marvels  and  reduced 
everybody  to  obedience,"  he  at  length  sailed  up 
the  St.  Lawrence,  and,  on  the  thirtieth  of  June, 
KlC)"),  anchored  in  the  basin  of  Quebec.  The  broad, 
white  standard,  blazoned  with  the  Jirnis  of  France, 
proelaiiued  the  representative  of  royalty  ;  and  Point 
Levi  and  Cape  Diamond  and  the  distant  Cape 
Tourniente  roared  back  the  sound  of  the  saluting 
cannon.  All  Quebec  was  on  the  ramparts  or  at  the 
landing-place,  and  all  eyes  Avere  strained  at  the 
two  vessels  as  they  slowly  emptied  their  crowded 
decks  into  the  boats  alongside.    The  boats  at  length 

1:^ 


178 


llOYAL  INTEIIVENTION. 


[1605. 


^t' 


♦  I'll. 


If 


I? 


(li'cw  lU'ar,  {111(1  the  lieutunant-geiieral  mid  his  suitu 
laud  CM  I  on  the  quay  with  a  pomp  such  as  Quebec 
had  never  seen  before. 

Tracy  was  a  veteran  of  sixty-two,  portly  luid 
tali,  ""one  of  tlie  largest  men  1  ever  saw,"  writes 
^h)tlier  Mary;  but  he  was  sallow  with  disease,  for 
fever  had  seize(l  him,  and  it  liad  fared  ill  wiih  him 
on  the  long  voyage.  The  Chevalier  de  Cliaumoiit 
walked  at  his  side,  and  young  nobles  surrounded 
him,  gorgeous  in  Lice  and  ribbons  jind  majestic  in 
leonine  wigs.  Twenty -four  guards  in  the  king's 
livery  led  the  way,  followed  by  four  pages  and  six 
valets ; '  and  thus,  while  the  Frenchmen  shouted  and 
the  Indians  stared,  the  august  procession  threaded 
the  streets  of  the  Lower  Town,  and  climbed  the 
steep  pathway  that  scaled  the  cliffs  above.  Ihviitli- 
ing  hard,  they  reached  the  top,  passed  on  the  left 
the  dilai)idate(l  walls  of  the  fort  and  the  shed  of 
mingled  wood  and  masonry  which  then  bore  the 
name  of  the  Castle  of  St.  Louis  ;  passed  on  the 
right  the  old  house  of  Couillard  and  the  site  of 
Laval's  new  seminary,  and  soon  reached  the  square 
betwixt  the  Jesuit  college  and  the  cathedral.  The 
bells  were  ringing  in  a  phrcnsy  of  welcome.  Laval 
in  pontificals,  surrounded  by  priests  and  Jesuits, 
stood  waiting  to  receive  the  deputy  of  the  khvj:; 
and,  as  he  greeted  Tracy  and  offered  him  the  holy 
water,  he  looked  with  anxious  curiositv  to  see 
what  manner  of  man  he  was.  The  signs  were  aus- 
picious.   The  deportment  of  the  lieutenant-general 


'  Juchorciiu  says  that  vi.ls  was  his  constant  attendance  wlien  lie  went 
abroad. 


It'll'l,'). 


TIIK    UKIXFOUCEM KNT. 


170 


left  iioiliiiiL;-  to  desire.  Ajjyk'duu  luul  l)een  placed 
lor  liiiii.  lie  declined  it.  'I'liey  offered  him  Ji  cush- 
ion, l»iit  he  ^vould  not  luive  it  ;  and,  fevere(l  as 
hi'  was,  he  knelt  on  the  hare  ])avenient  with  ii 
devotion  that  edilied  everv  heholder.  7V  Jhitm 
was  si:n»»:,  and  a   dav  of  ivioicinii;  followed. 

There  was  ^'ood  cause.  Canada,  it  was  plinn, 
was  not  to  he  wholh'  ahandoued  to  a  tradinn*  con*- 
jiaiiy.  Louis  XIV.  was  resolved  that  a  new  France 
should  he  added  to  the  old.  Soldiers,  settlers,  horses, 
shcc]).  cattle,  young  women  for  wives,  were  all  sent 
out  in  ahundance  hy  his  paternal  henignity.  Before 
the  season  was  over,  ahout  two  thousand  ])ersons 
had  landed  at  (^uehec  at  the  royal  charge.  ''At 
k'li^tli,"  writes  Mother  Juchereau,  ^  our  iov  Avas 
completed  hy  the  arrival  of  two  vessels  with  ]\h)n- 
sieiir  de  Courcelle,  our  governor  ;  Monsieur  Talon, 
oiii-  intendant,  and  the  last  com})anies  of  the 
regiment  of  Carignan."  More  state  and  splendor 
more  young  nohles,  more  guards  and  valets:  for 
Courcelle,  too,  says  the  same  chronicler,  ''  had  a 
supcil)  train;  and  Monsieur  Talon,  who  naturally 
loves  glory,  forgot  nothing  which  could  do  honor 
to  the  king."  Thns  a  siniheam  from  the  court  fell 
for  a  moment  on  the  rock  of  Qnehec.  Yet  all  was 
not  sunshine ;  for  the  voyage  had  heeu  a  tedions 
one.  and  disease  had  hroken  out  in  the  ships.  That 
which  hore  Talon  had  heen  a  hundred  and  seven- 
teen (lays  at  sea,'  and  others  were  hardly  more  fortu- 
nate. The  hospital  w\as  crowded  with  the  sick ;  so, 
too,  w  ere  the  church  and  the  neighboring  houses  ; 

1  Talon  au  ministre,  4  Oct.,  1GG5. 


180 


ROYAL  INTERVENTION. 


[1665 


r  s- 

■te 
f-,; 

1 

% 


jmd  the  nuns  were  so  spent  with  their  lahoiN  t]i;,t 
seven  of  tliem  w^ere  brought  to  the  point  of  death. 
The  priests  were  busied  in  converting  the  HiiLruc- 
nots,  a  number  of  whom  were  detected  aiiionu  the 
sohliers  and  emigrants.  One  of  them  proved  re- 
fractory, declaring  with  oaths  that  he  wouhl  iie\or 
renounce  his  faith.  Falhng  dangerously  ill.  he 
Avas  carried  to  the  hospital,  where  Mother  Cath- 
erine de  Saint-Augustin  bethought  her  of  a  plan 
of  conversion.  She  ground  to  powder  a  small 
piece  of  a  bone  oi  Father  Brebeuf,  the  Jesuit  mar- 
tvY,  and  secretly  mixed  the  sacred  dust  with  the 
patient's  gruel ;  whereupon,  says  Mother  Juche- 
reau,  '*  this  intractable  man  forthwith  became  geiule 
as  an  augel,  begged  to  be  instructed,  emljraced  the 
faith,  and  aljjured  his  errors  publicl}^  with  an  ud- 
mira])le  fervor."  ^ 

Two  or  three  years  before,  the  church  of  Quebec 
had  received  as  a  gift  from  the  Pope,  the  bodies 
01  boues  of  two  saints ;  Saint  Flavian  and  Saint 
Fclicite.  They  were  enclosed  in  four  large  coffers 
or  reliquaries,  and  a  grand  procession  was  now 
ordered  in  their  honor.  Tracy,  Courcelle,  Talon, 
and  the  agent  of  the  company,  bore  the  cauopv  of 
the  Host.  Then  came  the  four  coffers  on  four 
decorated  litters,  carried  by  the  principal  ecclesi- 
astics. Laval  followed  in  pontificals.  Forty-seven 
priests,  and  a  long  file  of  ofhcers,  nobles,  soldiers, 
and  inhabitants,  followed  the  precious  relics  amid 
the  sound  of  music  and  the  loar  of  cannon.''^ 

1  Le  Mcnier  teUs  tlio  snnie  story  in  tlii'  UiJuilnn  of  Ifino. 
'■2  Compaii?  Marie  tie  I'lnfiiniiitiuii,  /.< itn-,  10  Orl.,  Itjijij,  with  La  Tour, 
Vie  de  Laval,  chap.  x. 


lt)Gj.] 


REGIMENT  OF  CARIGNAN. 


ISl 


'•It  is  a  ravishing  thing,"  says  Mother  Mary, 
'•  to  see  how  marvellously  exact  is  Monsieur  de 
Tracy,  at  all  these  ^-oly  ceremonies,  where  he  is 
al\va\s  the  first  to  i  ome,  for  he  would  not  lose  a 
siimle  moment  of  them.  He  has  been  seen  in 
cliui'ch  for  six  hours  together,  without  once  going 
out."  But  while  the  lieutenant-general  thus  edilied 
the  colony,  he  betrayed  no  lack  of  qualities  equally 
iit'cdi'ul  in  his  position.  \\\  Canada,  as  in  the  West 
hulic:],  he  showed  both  vigor  and  conduct.  First 
of  all,  he  had  been  ordered  to  subdue  or  destroy 
the  Iroquois,  and  the  regiment  of  Carignan-Sali- 
eres  was  the  weapon  placed  in  his  hands  for  this 
end.  Four  conq^anies  of  this  corps  had  arrived 
early  in  the  season,  four  more  came  with  Ti'acy, 
iiioro  yet  with  Saliercs,  their  colonel,  and  now  the 
mimljer  was  conqdete.  As  with  slouched  hat  and 
pliiiue,  bandoleer,  and  shouldered  firelock,  these 
bronzed  veterans  of  the  Turkish  wars  marched  at 
the  tap  of  drum  through  the  narrow  street,  or 
inouuted  the  rugged  way  that  led  up  to  the  fort, 
the  inhabitants  gazed  with  a  sense  of  profomid 
reliet".  Tame  Indians  from  the  neighboring  mis- 
sions, wild  Indians  from  the  woods,  stared  in  silent 
Avonder  at  their  new  defenders.  Their  numbers, 
their  discipline,  their  uniform,  and  their  martial 
hearing,  filled  the  savage  beholders  with  admira- 
tion. 

Carignan-Salieres  was  the  first  regiment  of  regu- 
lar troops  ever  sent  to  America  by  the  French 
i:'o\ernnient.  It  was  raised  in  Savo>'  bv  the  Prince 
of  Carignan  in  1G44,  but  was  soon  enq)loyed  in  the 


182 


ROYAL  INTERVENTION 


[166a 


If- 


I 


service  of  France ;  ^vhere,  in  1G52,  it  took  a  con- 
spicuous partj  on  the  side  of  the  king,  in  the  1)iittle 
with  Conde  and  the  Fronde  at  the  Portu  St. 
Antoine.  After  the  peace  of  the  Pyrenees,  the 
Prince  of  Carignan,  unable  to  support  the  regiiiK'ut, 
gave  it  to  the  king,  and  it  was,  for  the  first  time, 
incorporated  into  the  Frencli  armies.  Tn  1004,  it 
distinguished  itself,  as  part  of  the  allied  force  of 
France,  in  the  Austrian  war  against  the  Turks. 
In  the  next  year  it  was  ordered  to  America,  along 
with  the  fragment  of  a  regiment  formed  of  Ger- 
mans, the  whole  being  placed  under  the  command 
of  Colonel  de  Salieres.     Hence  its  double  name.^ 

Fifteen  heretics  were  discovered  in  its  ranks, 
and  quickly  converted.^  Then  the  new  crusade 
was  preached  ;  the  crusade  against  the  Iro((uois, 
enemies  of  God  and  tools  of  the  devil.  The  sol- 
diers and  the  people  were  filled  with  a  zeal  liali 
warlike  and  half  religious.  "  They  are  made  to 
understand,"  writes  Mother  Mary,  "  that  this  is  a 
holy  war,  all  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  salva- 
tion of  souls.  Tlie  fathers  are  doing  wonders  in 
inspiring  them  with  true  sentiments  of  piety  and 

I  For  ii  loiif?  notice  of  the  regiment  of  Carignan-Sali^res  (Lo'Tiiiiie), 
see  Susane,  Anviome  Jnfantfrie  FrniK^nisp  V.  280.  The  portion  of  it  wliicli 
returned  to  France  from  Canada  formed  a  nucleus  for  tlie  reconstrmtiim 
of  the  rejfiiuent,  wiiich,  under  tlie  name  of  the  rej^iment  of  Lorraine, 
did  not  cease  to  exist  as  a  separate  orf^anization  till  171)4.  When  it  ciime 
to  Canada  it  consistetl,  says  Susane,  of  about  a  thousand  Jueii.  hosiiles 
about  two  hundred  of  tlie  other  regiment  incorporated  with  it.  Comimre 
Me'moirc  dn  fioj/  /lonr  scrrir  d'instntrtion  an  Sieur  Talon,  which  correis|HiiHls 
very  nearly  with  Susane's  statement. 

-'  Ht'sides  these,  there  was  Ikrthier,  a  captain,  "  Voilii  "  writes  Tiildiito 
the  kin<;,  "  ie  Ifinie  converti ;  ainsi  votre  Majeste  moissonne  dej'i  a  jilciiies 
mains  de  la  jiloire  pour  Dieu,  et  pour  elle  bien  de  la  renonimce  dans  tmite 
roteudue  de  la  Chretiente."    Lvtlre  du  7  Oct.,  1005. 


iiiiij 


1GG5.J 


A  HOLY   WAR. 


183 


devotion.  Fully  five  hundred  soldiers  have  taken 
the  seapulary  of  the  Holy  Virgin.  It  is  we  {the 
Ursidines),  who  make  them ;  it  is  a  real  pleasure 
to  (lO  such  work ;  "  and  she  proceeds  to  relate  a 
"beau  miracle,"  by  which  God  nuide  known  his 
.«;iitisfiiction  at  the  fervor  of  his  military  servants. 

The  secular  motives  for  the  war  were  in  them- 
selves strong  enough ;  for  the  growth  of  the 
colony  absolutely  demanded  the  cessation  of  Iro- 
quois raids,  and  the  French  had  begun  to  learn 
the  lesson  that,  in  the  case  of  hostile  Indians,  no 
uood  can  come  of  attempts  to  conciliate,  unless 
respect  is  first  imposed  by  a  sufficient  castigation. 
It  is  true  that  the  writers  of  the  time  paint  Iroquois 
hostilities  in  their  worst  colors.  In  the  innumer- 
able letters  which  Mother  JNIary  of  the  Incarnation 
sent  home  every  autumn,  by  the  returning  ships, 
she  spared  no  means  to  gain  the  sympathy  and  aid 
of  the  devout ;  and,  with  similar  motives,  the 
Jesuits  in  their  printed  Ixelatlons,  took  care  to 
extenuate  nothing  of  the  miseries  which  the  pious 
colony  endured.  Avaugour,  too,  in  urging  the 
seiidiuu:  out  of  a  strono;  force  to  fortifv  and  hold 
the  country,  had  advised  that,  in  order  to  furnish 
a  pretext  and  disarm  the  jealousy  ^f  the  English 
and  Dutch,  exaggerated  accounts  should  be  given 
of  danger  from  the  side  of  the  savage  confedenites. 
Vet,  with  every  allowance,  these  dangers  and  suffer- 
ings were  sutliciently  great. 

The  three  upper  nations  of  the  Iroquois  were 
ooiiiparatively  pacific ;  but  the  two  lower  nations, 
the  Mohawks  and  Oneidas,  were  persistently  lios- 


184 


ROYAL   INTERVENTION. 


[lC6o. 


1*  . 


'ft: 
I*/ 
1  • 


tile;  making  inroads  into  the  colony  by  wny  of 
L[ike  Champlain  and  the  Richelieu,  niurderino-  and 
Bcalping,  and  then  vanishing  like  ghosts.  Tracy's 
first  step  was  to  send  a  strong  detachment  to  tlie 
Richelieu  to  build  a  picket  fort  below  the  ia[)i(l,s 
of  Chambly,  which  take  their  name  from  tiiat  of 
the  oificer  in  command.  An  officer  named  Sorel 
soon  afterwards  built  a  second  fort  on  the  site  of 
the  abandoned  palisade  work  built  by  Montmagny. 
at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  where  the  town  of  Sorol 
now  stands ;  and  Salieres,  colonel  of  the  regiment, 
added  a  third  fort,  two  or  three  leagues  aljove 
Chambly.^  These  forts  could  not  wdiolly  bar  the 
passage  against  the  nimble  and  wily  warriors  who 
might  pass  them  in  the  night,  shouldering  their 
canoes  through  the  woods.  A  blow,  direct  and 
hard,  was  needed,  and  Tracy  prepared  to  strike  it. 
Late  in  the  season  an  embassy  from  the  tiiree 
upper  nations  —  the  Onondagas,  Cayugas,  and 
Senecas  —  arrived  at  Quebec,  led  by  Garacontie,  a 
famous  chief  whom  the  Jesuits  had  w^on  over,  and 
wdio  proved  ever  after  a  staunch  friend  of  the 
French.  Tlie}^  brought  back  the  brave  Charles 
Le  Moyne  of  Montreal,  wdiom  they  had  captured 
some  three  months  before,  and  now  restored  as 
a  peace-offering,  taking  credit  to  themselves  that 
"  not  even  one  of  his  nails  had  been  torn  out,  nor 
any  part  of  his  body  burnt."  ^     Garacontie  made  a 


1  See  the  r.i.'ip  in  the  lidoti'on  of  1G05.  The  acconipanyuig  text  of 
the  Rcldliiin  is  incorrect. 

'"*  Explanation  »f  the  eleven  Presents  of  the  Iroquois  Ambassadors,  N.  Y. 
Colonial  Docs.,  IX.  37. 


11)65.] 


PACIFIC   OVERTURES. 


185 


peace  speech,  wliicli,  as  rendered  by  the  Jesuits, 
was  an  admirable  specimen  of  Iroquois  eloquence  ; 
but.  wlule  joining  hands  with  him  and  his  com- 
miii(jns,  the  French  still  urged  on  their  prepara- 
tions to  chastise  the  contumacious  Mohawks. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


ii 


''  "■'"    f. 

*Wk 

rT:;   '\ 

■  .        i 

'f>' 

i 
'} 

I- 


1606,  1667. 
THE    MOHAWKS    CHASTISED. 

Coubcelle's  March.  —  His  Failure  and  Return.  —  Courcei.le 
AND  THE  Jesuits.  —  Mohawk  Treachery.  —  Tracy's  Exilui- 
TioN.  —  Burning  of  the  INIohawk  Towns.  —  French  and  Kng- 

LISH.   —   DOLLIER     DE     CaSSON     AT     St.     AnNE.   PeACE.  —  TlIE 

Jesuits  and  the  Iroquois. 

The  governor,  Courcelle,  says  Father  Le  Mer- 
cier,  ''  breathed  nothing  but  war,"  and  was  bent 
on  hnuiediate  action.  He  was  for  the  present  sub- 
ordinate to  Tracy,  who,  however,  forebore  to  cool 
his  ardor,  and  allowed  him  to  proceed.  The  result 
was  an  enterprise  bold  to  rashness.  Courcello, 
with  about  five  hundred  men,  prepared  to  inarch 
in  the  depth  of  a  Canadian  winter  to  the  Moliawk 
towns,  a  distance  estimated  at  three  hundrod 
leagues.  Those  who  knew  the  country,  vainly 
urged  the  risks  and  difhculties  of  the  attempt. 
The  adventurous  governor  held  fast  to  his  pur- 
pose, and  only  waited  till  the  St.  Lawrence  should 
be  well  frozen.  Early  in  January,  it  Avas  a  solid 
floor ;  and  on  the  ninth  the  march  began.  Oflicers 
and  men  stopped  at  Sillery,  and  knelt  in  the 
little  mission  chapel  before  the  shrine   of  Saint 


i6cc; 


COURCELLE'S  MARCH. 


187 


Mic'luH'l,  lO  ask  the  protection  and  aid  of  the  war- 
like .'uchang'jl ;  then  they  resumed  tlieir  course, 
and.  witli  their  snow-shoes  tied  at  their  backs, 
walked  with  difficulty  and  toil  over  the  bare  and 
vlippcry  ice.  A  keen  Avind  swept  the  river,  and 
the  lierce  cokl  gnawed  them  to  the  bone.  Ears, 
noses,  lingers,  hands,  and  knees  Avere  frozen ; 
some  fell  in  torpor,  and  were  dragged  on  by  their 
comrades  to  the  shivering  bivouac.  When,  after  a 
march  of  ninety  miles,  they  reached  Three  Rivers, 
ii  considerable  number  were  disabled,  and  had  to 
be  left  behind ;  but  others  joined  them  from  the 
i:arrison,  and  they  set  out  again.  Ascending  the 
Kiclielieu,  and  j^assing  the  new  forts  at  Sorel  and 
Cliainbly,  they  reached  at  the  end  of  the  month 
the  third  fort,  called  Ste.  Therese.  On  the  thirtieth 
they  left  it,  and  continued  their  march  up  the 
frozen  stream.  About  tAvo  hundred  of  them 
were  Canadians,  and  of  these  scA'cnty  Avere  old 
Indian- fighters  from  Montreal,  A^ersed  in  Avood- 
craft,  seasoned  to  the  climate,  and  trained  among 
dangers  and  alarms.  Courcelle  quickly  learned 
their  value,  and  his  "  Blue  Coats,"'  as  he  called 
them,  Avere  ahvays  placed  in  the  A'an.^  Here, 
wrapped  in  their  coarse  blue  capotes,  with  blank- 
ets and  provisions  strapped  at  their  backs,  they 
strode  along  on  snow-shoes,  Avhich  recent  storms 
had  made  indispensable.  The  regulars  followed 
as  they  could.  They  Avere  not  yet  the  tough  and 
oxpn'ienced  woodsmen  that  they  and  tlieir  de- 
scendants  afterwards   became ;    and    their    snow- 

^  DoUier  de  Casson,  Ilistoire  da  Montreal,  a.d.  IGGo,  16G6. 


I 
I 


188 


THE   MOHAWKS   CHASTISED. 


[iec6. 


wlioes  eiul)iUT{is.se(l  them,  burdened  us  tlivy  Avon, 
with  the  heiivy  loads  whieh  all  earned  alikr,  from 
Coui'eelle   to  the   lowest  private. 

Lake  Chain])]aiii  lay  glaring  in  the  wintci-  siin. 
a  sheet  of  spotless  snow ;  and  the  wavy  ridi^cs  of 
the  Adirondacks  ])ordered  the  dazzlirg  IjuKlscinK.' 
with  the  cold  gray  of  their  denuded  forest,^.  Tliu 
long  2)rocession  of  weary  men  crept  slowiv  on 
under  the  lee  of  the  shore ;  and  when  night  caiut' 
they  bivouacked  by  squads  among  the  trees,  (lu'-" 
away  the  snow  with  their  snow-shoes,  piled  it  in  u 
bank  around  them,  built  their  fire  in  the  middk', 
and  crouched  about  it  on  beds  of  spruce  or  hem- 
lock; ^  while,  as  they  lay  close  packed  for  mutual 
warmth,  the  winter  sky  arched  them  like  a  vault 
of  burnished  steel,  sparkling  with  the  cold  diamond 
lustre  of  its  myriads  of  stars.  This  arctic  seieiiity 
of  the  elements  was  varied  at  times  bv  lieavv 
snow-storms ;  and,  before  they  reached  their  jour- 
ney's end,  the  earth  and  the  ice  were  buried  to  tliu 
unusual  depth  of  four  feet.  From  Lake  Cham- 
plain  they  passed  to  Lakt  George,^  and  the  frigid 
glories  of  its  snow-wrapped  mountains;  thence 
crossed  to  the  Hudson,  and  groped  their  way 
through  the  w^oods  in  search  of  the  Molnnvk 
towns.  They  soon  w^ent  astray  ;  for  thirty  Algon- 
quins,  whom  they  had  taken  as  guides,  had  found 


1  One  of  the  men,  tellings  the  story  of  tlieir  sufferings  to  Diniiel  Goo- 
kin,  of  Massnchusetts,  inilicated  tliis  as  tl)eir  mode  of  encamping.  See 
Maes.  Hist.  Coll ,  first  series,  I.  161. 

-  Carle  dcs  firdiida  lacs,  Ontario  et  auires  .  .  .  et  des  pa>/s  (rnnrsez  par 
A[y[.  de  Tracy  et  Courcelle  pour  tiller  attaquer  les  aynie's  (Muhawb), 
1660. 


lht',C,.] 


FATLUitlJ   (>F  COURCELLE. 


189 


the  iiionns  of  a  grand  debaiicli  at  Fort  Stc.  The  rose, 
(Iriiiik  themselves   into  hel[)lessncss,  and  lingered 
heluiitl.     Thus  Courcelle  and  his  men  mistook  the 
])[\\h.  and,  marching  by  way  of  Saratogji  Lake  and 
Loiiii"   Lake/   found  themselves,  on  Saturday   the 
twi'iiticth  of  February,  close   to   the  little  Dutch 
liiunlct  of  Corkier  or  Schenectady.     Here  the  chief 
man  in   authority    told    them    that   most    of    the 
Mohawks  and  Oneidas  had  gone  to  war  with  an- 
other tribe.     They,  however,  caught  a  few  strag- 
glers, and  had  a  smart  skirmish  with  a  party  of 
warriors,  losing  an  officer  and  several  men.     ILdf 
frozen  and  half  starved,   they  encamped   in    the 
neighboring  Avoods,  where,  on  Sunday,  three  en- 
voys appeared  from  Albany,  to  demand  win*  they 
had  invaded  the  territories  of  his  Roval  IIi<'-hness 
the  Duke  of  York.     It  was  now  that  they  learned 
fur  the  first  time  that  the  New  Netherlands  had 
passed  into  English  hands,  a  change  which  boded 
no  good  to  Canada.     The  envoys  seemed  to  take 
their   explanations   in   good   part,  made   them   a 
present  of  wine  and  provisions,  and  allowed  them 
to  buy  further  supplies  from  the  Dutch  of  Sche- 
nectady.    They  even  invited  them  to  enter  the 
viHage,  1)ut  Courcelle  declined,  partly  because  the 
place  could  not  hold  them  all,  and  partly  because 
he  feared  that  his  men,  once  seated  in  a  chinmey- 
corner,  could  never  be  induced  to  leave  it. 

Their  position  was  cheerless  enough ;  for  the 
vast  beds  of  snow  around  them  were  soaking 
slowly  under  a  sullen  rain,  and  there  was  danger 

'   Cditc  .   .    .  dts  pa ijfi  travel sc~  par  M M.  de  'J'racij  et  Cuuraile,  etc. 


190 


Tin-:  MOHAWKS  chastised. 


(1C66, 


'•■IT-     ■' 
■Iter      ■': 


I 


that  the  lakes  might  thaw  and  cutoff  their  ictroat. 
*'  Ye  Moha likes,"  says  the  old  English  re[)()ii  of  the 
affair,  "were  all  gone  to  their  Castles  with  icsolu- 
tioii  to  ligh  at  against  the  freiich,  who.  hcintr 

refresht  and  supplyed  w"'  the  aforesaid  provi.-ions, 
made  a  shew  of  marching  towards  the  Mohiiukcs 
Castles,  but  ^vith  faces  about,  and  great  sylencc  tind 
dilligence,  returii'd  towards  Cannada."  '•  Stirch." 
observes  the  narrator,  "•  so  bould  and  h;n(l\'  aii 
attempt  liath  not  hapned  in  any  age."  '  The  end 
hardly  answered  to  the  beginning.  The  retreat. 
which  began  on  Sunday  night,  was  rather  precipi- 
tate. The  Mohawks  hovered  about  their  renr,  and 
took  a  few  prisoners ;  but  famine  and  cold  i)ioved 
more  deadly  foes,  and  sixty  men  jierished  before 
they  reached  the  shelter  of  Fort  Ste.  Therea'. 
On  the  eighth  of  March,  Courcelle  came  to  the 
neighboring  fort  of  St.  Louis  or  ChamJdy.  Here 
he  found  the  Jesuit  Albanel  acting  as  chaphiin; 
and,  being  in  great  ill  humor,  he  charged  him  Avith 
causing  the  failure  of  tlie  expedition  by  detaining 
the  Algonquin  guides.  This  singular  notion  took 
such  possession  of  him,  that,  when  a  few  days  after 
he  met  the  Jesuit  Frenun  at  Three  Rivers,  lie  em- 
braced him  ironically,  saying,  at  the  same  time, 
"  M}^  father,  1  am  the  unluckiest  gentleman  in 
the  world  ;  and  30U,  and  the  rest  of  you,  are  the 
cause  of  it."  '^     The  pious  Tracy,  and  the  prudent 


1  A  Relation  of  the  Govern'',  of  Cannada,  his  March  with  GOO  Volmitiirs 
into  I/'  Territori/fs  of  His  Rojjull  ni</h)iesse  the  Duke  of  YorLe  in  America. 
See  Doc.  Uist.N.  Y.  I.  71. 

-  Journal  dts  J(fsuites,  Mars,  1666. 


WA.] 


MOHAWK   TUKACIIKUY. 


]91 


Talon,  tried  to  disariu  his  siisjjicioiis,  and  with  such 
success  that  ho  gave  up  an  intention  he  had  enter- 
tained of  discarding  his  Jesuit  confessor,  and  i'or- 
trot  or  forgave  the  imagined  wrong. 

Unfortunate  as  this  expedition  was,  it  produced 
a  strong  effect  on  the  Iroquois  hy  convincing  them 
tliat  their  forest  homes  were  no  safe  asyhun  from 
French  attacks.  In  May,  the  Senecas  sent  an 
(.iiibassy  of  peace  ;  and  the  other  mitions,  incUiding 
the  Mohawks,  soon  followed.  Tracy,  on  his  part, 
^cnt  the  Jesuit  Becliefer  to  learn  on  the  spot  the 
real  temper  of  the  savages,  and  ascertain  whether 
peace  could  safely  be  made  with  them.  The  Jesuit 
was  scarcely  gone  when  news  came  that  a  party  of 
ollicers  hunting  near  the  outlet  of  Lake  Champlain 
had  been  set  upon  by  the  Mohawks,  and  that  seven 
of  them  had  been  captured  or  killed.  Among  the 
('at)tured  was  Leroles,  a  cousin  of  Tracy,  and 
among  the  killed  was  a  young  gentleman  named 
Chasy,  his  nephew. 

On  this  the  Jesuit  envoy  was  recalled ;  twenty- 
four  Iroquois  deputies  were  seized  and  imprisoned  ; 
and  Sorel,  captain  in  the  regiment  of  Carignan,  was 
sent  with  three  hundred  men  to  chastise  the  per- 
lidious  Mohawks.  If,  as  it  seems,  he  was  expected 
to  attack  their  fortified  towns  or  "  castles,"  as  the 
English  call  them,  his  force  was  too  small.  This 
time,  however,  there  wrts  no  fighting.  At  two  days 
Ironi  his  journey's  end,  Sorel  met  the  famous  chief 
called  the  Flemish  Bastard,  bringing  back  Leroles 
and  his  fellow-captives,  and  charged,  as  he  alleged, 
to  offer  full  satisfaction  for  the  murder  of  Chasy. 


192 


TIIK   MOHAWKS   CIIASTLsni). 


[WA. 


t  ? 


>■<*!■.■ 
'  ■'(■■• 
iX:. 


I' 

I'' 


rp 


'1^ 


Sorel  Ix'liovtMl  him,  retraced  liis  course,  aii<l  with 
the  JJastard  in  his  train  i-eturned  to  Qiiehcc. 

Quebec  was  I'ull  of  lro(juois  deputies, all  hcnt  on 
])eace  or  prel^euding  to  he  so.  On  the  last  (hiy  of 
August,  there  was  u  grand  council  in  the  <i;ir(l('ii 
of  the  Jesuits.  Some  days  later,  Tracy  Invifril  the 
Flemish  JJastard  and  a  Mohawk  chief  named  Aii-ii- 
riata  to  his  table,  when  allusion  was  made  to  the 
murder  of  Cliasy.  On  this  the  Mohawk,  stret('hiii«r 
out  his  arm,  exclaimed  in  a  bi'aggart  tone,  ''This 
is  the  hand  tliatsjdit  the  head  of  that  young  man." 
The  indignation  of  the  company  may  be  imagined. 
IVacy  told  his  insolent  guest  that  he  should  never 
kill  anybody  else;  and  he  was  led  out  and  hanged 
in  presence  of  the  Bastard.^  There  was  no  more 
talk  of  peace.  Tracy  prepared  to  march  in  person 
against  the  Mohawks  with  all  the  force  of  Canada. 

On  the  day  of  the  Exaltation  of  the  Cross, '-for 
whose  glory,"  says  the  chronicler,  '^  this  expedi- 
tion is  undertaken,"  Tracy  and  Courcellc  left 
(Quebec  with  thirteen  hundred  men.  They  crossed 
Lake  Champlain,  and  launched  their  boats  again  on 
the  waters  of  St.  Sacrament,  now  Lake  George. 
It  was  the  first  of  the  warlike  pageants  that  have 
made  that  fair  scene  historic.  October  had  begun, 
and  the  romantic  wilds  breathed  the  buoyant  life 
of  the  most  inspiring  of  American  seasons,  when 

1  This  story  rests  cliiefly  on  the  authority  of  Nicolas  Porrot,  Mmm 
(fes  S(inr(t;i<'s,  113.  La  Potherie  also  tells  it,  with  tiie  addition  of  the  chief's 
name.  C'olilen  follows  him.  The  ,/oitnial  des  J€suites  mentions  tliat  the 
chief  wiio  led  (lie  murderers  of  Chasy  arrived  at  Quebec  on  the  sixtii  of 
September.  Marie  de  I'lncarnatiou  mentions  tlie  hanging  ol  an  Iroquois 
at  Quebec,  late  in  the  autumn,  for  violating  the  peace. 


m\ 


MARCH  OF  TRACY. 


193 


no  more 


the  l)liic-jay  screams  from  the  woods;  the  wild 
(luck  splashes  along  the  lake ;  and  the  echoes  of 
(listiiiit  mountains  prolong  the  quMvering  cry  of 
the  loon  ;  when  weather-stained  I'ocks  are  [)himed 
with  the  fiery  crimson  of  the  sumac,  the  chiret  hues 
ot  \()inig  oaks,  the  amber  and  scarlet  of  the  ma[)le, 
;i!i(l  tilt'  sober  purple  of  the  ash  j  or  when  gleams 
of  sunlight,  shot  ashmt  through  the  rents  of  cool 
;iiitimmal  clouds,  chase  fitfully  along  the  glowing 
sides  of  painted  mountains.  Amid  thl;;  gorgeous 
c'litlmnasia  of  the  dying  season,  the  three  hundred 
l)o;its  and  canoes  trailed  in  long  procession  np  the 
liiko,  threaded  the  labyrinth  of  the  Narrows,  that 
sylvan  fairy-land  of  tufted  islets  and  quiet  waters, 
iiiid  landed  at  length  where  Fort  William  Henry 
was  afterwards  bnilt.^ 

About  a  hundred  miles  of  forests,  swamps,  rivers, 
and  mountains,  still  lay  between  them  and  the  Mo- 
hawk towns.  There  seems  to  have  been  an  Indian 
jiatli ;  for  this  w^as  the  ordinary  route  of  the  Mo- 
hawk and  Oneida  wtir-parties  :  but  the  path  was 
narrow,  broken,  full  of  gullies  and  pitfalls,  crossed 
by  streams,  and  in  one  place  interrupted  hy  a  lake 
which  they  passed  on  rafts.  A  hundred  and  ten 
■"Blue  Coats,"  of  Montreal,  led  the  Avay,  under 
Charles  Le  Moyne.  Repentigny  commanded  the 
levies  from  Quebec.  In  all  there  were  six  hundred 
Canadians ;  six  hundred  regulars  ;  and  a  hundred  In- 
dians from  the  missions,  who  ranged  the  woods  in 
front,  flank,  and  rear,  like  hounds  on  the  scent. 
Ked  or  white,  Canadians  or  regulars,  all  were  full 

Carte  .  .  .  des  pays  traversez  par  MM.  de  Tracy  et  Cottrcelle,  etc. 

13 


194 


THE   xMOIIAWKS   CHASTISED. 


[IGGC. 


ttJr 


of  zeal.  "  It  seems  to  them,"  writes  Mother  Marv 
"  that  they  are  going  to  lay  siege  to  Paradise,  and 
•win  it  and  enter  in,  because  they  are  liglitiiiLi-  tor 
religion  and  the  faith."  ^  Their  ardor  was  nidclv 
tried.  Officers  as  well  as  men  carried  loiids  at 
their  backs,  whence  ensued  a  large  blister  on  ihc 
shoulders  of  the  Chevalier  de  Chaumont,  in  no 
way  used  to  such  burdens.  Tracj',  old,  heavy,  and 
infirm,  was  inopportunely  seized  with  the  gout.  A 
Swiss  soldier  tried  to  carry  him  on  his  shouMns 
across  a  rapid  stream  ;  but  midway  his  strength 
failed,  and  he  was  barely  able  to  deposit  his  pon- 
derous load  on  a  rock.  A  Huron  came  to  his 
aid,  and  bore  Tracy  safely  to  the  farther  1)ank. 
Courcelle  was  attacked  with  cramps,  and  had  to  he 
carried  for  a  time  like  his  counnander.  Provisions 
gave  out,  and  men  and  officers  grew  faint  with 
hunger.  The  Montreal  soldiers  had  for  cha})lain  a 
sturdy  priest,  Dollier  de  Casson,  as  Lirge  as  Tracv 
and  far  stronger;  for  the  incredible  story  is  told  of 
him  tliatj  when  in  good  condition,  he  could  hold 
two  men  sejited  on  his  extended  hands.^  Now. 
however,  he  was  ecpial  to  no  such  exploit,  being 
not  only  deprived  of  food,  but  also  of  sleep,  by  the 
necessity  of  listening  at  night  to  the  confessions  oi' 
his  pious  flock  ;  and  his  shoes,  too,  had  failed  him. 
nothing  remaining  but  the  ui)per  leather,  which 
gave  him  little  comfort  among  the  sharp  stont.«. 
He  bore  up  manfully,  being  by  nature  brave  and 


1  Marie  de  ITncaniation,  Lettre  dn  10  Oct.,  IGOG. 
-  (iraiuk't,  Notice  UKitiuscrite  sttr  Dollitr  dn  Cassou,  extract  given  by  J. 
Vigor  ill  appentlix  to  llistoiredu  Muntreul  (Montreal,  1808). 


IGOG. 


THE  MOHAWK  TOWNS. 


195 


lifrlit-liearted ;  iiiul,  when  a  servant  of  tlio  Jesuits 
full  into  the  water,  he  threw  oil'  his  cassock  and 
leaped  alter  him.  His  strength  gave  out,  and  the 
man  was  drowned  ;  but  a  grateiul  Jesuit  led  him 
aside  and  requited  his  ell'orts  with  a  morsel  of 
bread. ^  A  Avood  of  chestnut-trees  full  of  nuts  at 
length  stayed  the  hunger  of  the  famished  troops. 
It  was  Saint  Theresa's  day  when  they  Jipproached 
the  lower  Mohawk  town.  A  storm  of  wind  and 
rain  set  in ;  but,  anxious  to  surprise  the  enemy, 
tliey  pushed  on  all  night  jimid  the  moan  and  roar 
of  the  forest ;  over  slipi)ery  logs,  tangled  roots,  and 
oozy  mosses ;  inider  dripping  boughs  and  through 
satnrated  bushes.  This  time  there  was  no  want  of 
good  guides  ;  and  when  in  the  morning  tliey  issued 
from  the  forest,  they  saw,  amid  its  cornfields,  the 
palisades  of  the  Indian  stronghold.  They  had  two 
small  pieces  of  cannon  brought  from  the  hd\e  by 
relays  of  men,  but  they  did  not  stop  to  use  them. 
Their  twenty  drums  beat  the  charge,  and  tbey  ad- 
vaneed  to  seize  the  place  by  coiip-de-mahi.  Luckily 
for  them,  a  panic  had  sei/.ed  the  Indians.  Not  that 
they  were  taken  by  surprise,  for  they  had  discov- 
ered the  approaching  French,  and,  two  days  before, 
had  sent  away  their  women  and  children  in  prep- 
aration for  a  desperate  fight;  but  the  din  of  the 
drnms,  which  they  took  for  so  many  devils  in  the 
French  service  ;  and  the  armed  men  advancing  from 
tile  roeks  and  thickets  in  files  that  seemed  iuter- 
minahle,  —  so  wrought  on  the  scared  imagin  1  ion  of 
the  warriors  that  they  lied  in  terror  to  their  next 

*  Dollier  de  Cassoii,  Ilisloire  du  Montifful,  a.d.  1005,  1GG6. 


196 


THE   MOHAWKS   CHASTISED. 


jlW). 


town,  a  short  (lis(;nice  ahovo.  Tracy  lost  no  limo 
but  hasteiK'd  in  pursnit.  A  IV^w  JNIoliawks  w^j-^j 
st'on  on  tlio  liills,  yelling  and  (iring  loo  far  for 
oiVc'ct.  l\('|HMitigny,  at  the  I'isk  of  his  scalp,  cliiiihcrl 
II  neighhoring  height,  and  looked  down  on  the  liltle 
army,  which  seemed  so  numerous  as  it  passed  hc- 
nealli.  "  that,"  writes  the  su[)erior  of  the  Ursulines, 
*' he  told  me  that  he  thought  the  good  angels  iiuist 
have  joined  with  it;   whereat  he  stood  amazed." 

The  second  town  or  fort  was  taken  as  easilv  as 
the  lirst;  so,  too,  were  the  third  and  the  tonrth. 
The  Indians  yelled,  and  Hod  without  killing  ;i  man; 
and  still  the  troops  pursued,  following  the  hr  lad 
trail  Avhich  led  from  town  to  town  along  the  xaicy 
of  the  Mohawk.  It  was  late  in  the  {d'ternoon  wlicu 
the  fourth  town  was  entered,^  and  Tracy  tliouiiht 
that  his  work  was  done;  but  an  Algompiin  s(pia\v 
who  had  followed  her  husband  to  the  war,  and  who 
had  once  been  a  prisoner  among  the  Moh;iwks,  told 
him  that  there  was  still  another  above.  The  sun 
was  near  its  setting,  and  the  men  were  tired  with 
their  pitiless  marching ;  but  again  the  order  was 
given  to  advance.  The  eager  squaw  showed  the 
way,  holding  a  pistol  in  one  hand  and  kNiding 
Courcelle  with  the  other ;  and  they  soon  caino  in 
sight  of  Andaraquc,  the  largest  and  strongest  of 
the  Mohawk  forts.     The  drums  beat  with  furv,  and 

« 

the  troops  prepared  to  attjick,  but  there  were  none 
to  oppose  them.     The  scouts  sent  forward,  reported 


•  Marie  de  I'liicarnation  says  tliat  tlierc  were  four  towns  in  all.  I 
follow  the  Ac!e  de  prise  de  possession,  made  on  the  spot.  Five  are  liere 
mentioned. 


iGCr-.l 


VICTORY. 


197 


tliat  the  w.'irr'iors  lind  fled.     Tlio  lust  of  tlie  snvnge 
stroni;liol(ls  w.'is  in  llio  IimihIs  of  tli(;  French. 

"(1()(1  hiis  (lone  for  ns,"  says  Motlior  Miiry,  '•  wliat 
lio  (lid  in  Mncient  (lays  foi-  liis  chosen  people,  slrik- 
iii<r  Icrror  into  onr  eiKMiiies,  insoniueli  that  we  \V(!re 
viclors  without,  a  ])low.  Cert.ain  it  is  tliat  ther(.'  is 
ininicle  in  all  this;  for,  if  the  lro(piois  had  stood 
fast,  they  would  have  <^iven  us  a  grc^at  deal  of 
ii'ouhle  and  ea,used  our  army  j^^reat  loss,  s(!ein(^  how 
llicy  were  fortified  and  armed,  and  how  haughty 
and  bold   they  are." 

The  French  were  astonished  as  they  looked  about 
tliein.  'J'hese  Irorpiois  forts  Avcre  very  different 
from  those  that  Jogucs  luul  seen  here  twenty  y(;ars 
l»('fer(%  or  from  thiit  wliich  in  earlier  tluK^s  set 
Cliniiiplain  and  his  Hiu'ons  at  defiance.  The  Mo- 
hawks had  had  counsel  and  aid  from  their  Dutch 
friends,  and  adapted  their  savage  defences  to  the 
rules  of  Europ(»an  art.  Andaraque  Avas  a  quad- 
raiiule  formed  of  a  triple  palisade,  twenty  feet  high, 
;iiid  flanked  by  four  bastions.  Large  vessels  of 
])aik  filled  Avith  water  were  placed  on  the;  plat- 
forms of  the  palisade  for  defence  against  fire.  The 
dwellings  which-  these  fortifications  enclosed  wei-e 
in  many  cases  built  of  wood,  though  the  form  and 
anangement  of  the  primitive  bark  lodge  of  the 
lro(|U(>is  seems  to  have  been  preserved.  Some  of 
flic  wooden  houses  were  a  hundred  and  twentv 
feet  long,  w'ith  fires  for  eight  or  nine  families. 
IIiMV  and  in  subterranean  caches  was  stored  a  pro- 
dljiious  (quantity  of  Indian-corn  and  othei'  ]U'ovi- 
sions;   and  all  the  dwclUngs  were  supplied  with 


198 


THE  MOHAWKS  CHASTISED. 


[lOuG, 


■k    i 


m. 


I; 

r 

r 


carpenters'  tools,  domestic  utensils,  and  many  oilier 
appliances  of  comfort. 

The  only  living  things  in  Anrlaraque,  avIkmi  tlie 
French  entered,  were  two  old  women,  a  sniiill  l)()v 
and  a  decrepit  old  man,  who,  heing  frighteiKMl  1)v 
the  noise  of  the  drums,  had  hidden  himselt'  undor 
a  canoe.  From  them  the  victors  learned  that  t]ie 
Mohawks,  retreating  from  the  other  towns,  harl 
gathered  here,  resolved  to  fight  to  the  last;  l)iif  at 
sight  of  the  troops  their  courage  failed,  and  the 
chief  was  first  to  run,  crying  out,  ^'  Let  us  save 
ourselves,  brothers ;  the  whole  world  is  coniiii«T 
against  us." 

A  cross  was  planted,  and  at  its  side  the  royal 
arms.  The  troops  were  drawn  up  in  battle  anay, 
Avhen  Jean  Baptiste  du  Bois,  an  officer  deputcMl  jjy 
Tracy,  advancing  sword  in  hand  to  the  front,  pro- 
claimed in  a  loud  voice  that  he  took  possession  in 
the  name  of  the  king  of  all  the  country  of  ilie 
Mohawks;  and  the  troops  shouted  three  timo?, 
Vive  le  Eol} 

That  night  a  mighty  bonfire  illumined  the  Mo- 
hawk forests  ;  and  the  scared  savages  from  their  liM- 
ing-places  among  the  rocks  saw  their  p.alisades,  tlieir 
dwellings,  their  stores  of  food,  and  all  their  posses- 
sions, turned  to  cinders  and  ashes.  The  two  old 
squaws  captured  in  the  town,  threw  themselves  in 
despair  into  the  flames  of  their  blazing  homos. 
When  morning  came,  there  was  nothing  left  of 
Andaraquc  but  smouldering  embers,  rolling  their 
pale  smoke  against  the  painted  background  of  the 

1  Acic  de  prise  lie  jiDSstssioi),  17  Oct.,  1(5GG. 


ICflG.] 


ENGLISH  JEALOUSY. 


199 


Octol>or  woods.  Te  Damn  was  sung  and  mass  said ; 
and  then  the  victors  began  their  backward  inarch, 
liuniiiig,  as  they  went,  all  the  remaining  forts,  witli 
all  their  hoarded  stores  of  corn,  except  such  as  they 
iK'eded  for  themselves.  If  they  had  failed  to  destroy 
tlR'ii-  enemies  in  battle,  they  hoped  that  winter 
and  fiiinine  would  do  the  work  of  shot  and  steel. 

While  there  was  distress  among  the  Mohawks, 
there  was  trouble  among  their  English  neighbors, 
who  claimed  as  their  own  the  country  which  Tracy 
had  Invaded.  The  English  authorities  were  the 
more  disquieted,  because  they  feared  that  the  hitely 
conquered  Dutch  might  join  hands  with  the  French 
a»i;nnst  them.  When  Nicolls,  <»:overnor  of  New 
York,  heard  of  Tracy's  advance,  he  wrote  to  the 
irovernors  of  the  New  En«»-land  colonies,  be<»"U'in^ 
them  to  join  him  against  the  French  invaders,  and 
urging  that,  if  Tracy's  force  were  destroyed  or  cap- 
tiii'ed,  the  conquest  of  Canada  would  be  an  easy 
task.  There  Avas  war  at  the  time  between  the  two 
ei'owns ;  and  the  British  court  had  already  enter- 
tained this  project  of  conquest,  and  sent  orders  to 
its  colonies  to  that  effect.  But  the  New  England 
governors,  ill  prepared  for  war,  and  fearing  that 
their  Indian  neighbors,  who  were  enemies  of  the 
Mohawks,  might  take  part  with  the  French,  hesi- 
tated to  act,  and  the  affair  ended  in  a  correspond- 
ence, civil  if  not  sincere,  between  Nicolls  and  Tracy. ^ 
The  treaty  of  Breda,  in  the  following  year,  secured 
peace  for  a  time  between  the  rival  colonies. 

'  Si'o  tlie  corresjioiidence  in  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.  III.  118-150.  Compare 
Ilutcliiiisou  Collection,  407,  and  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.  XVllI.  102. 


200 


THE  MOHAWKS   CHASTISED. 


[1066. 


J* 


The  return  of  Tracy  was  less  fortunate  than  his 
advance.  The  rivers,  swollen  by  autumn  rains, 
were  difficult  to  pass ;  and  in  crossing  Lake  Cham- 
plain  two  canoes  were  overset  in  a  storm,  and 
eight  men  were  drowned.  From  St.  Anne,  a  new- 
fort  built  early  in  the  summer  on  Isle  La  Mottu, 
near  the  northern  end  of  the  lake,  he  sent  news  of 
his  success  to  Quebec,  where  there  was  great  re- 
joicing and  a  solemn  thanksgiving.  Signs  and 
prodigies  had  not  been  wanting  to  attest  the  inter- 
est of  the  upper  and  nether  powers  in  the  crusade 
against  the  myrmidons  of  hell.  At  one  of  the  forts 
on  the  Eichelieu,  "  the  soldiers,"  says  Mother  Mary. 
"  were  near  dying  of  fright.  They  saw  a  gn^at 
fiery  cavern  in  the  sky,  and  from  this  cavern  came 
plaintive  voices  mixed  with  frightful  bowlings. 
Perhaps  it  was  the  demons,  enraged  because  we 
had  depopulated  a  country  where  they  had  been 
masters  so  loni:^,  and  had  said  mass  and  suuu-  the 
praises  of  God  in  a  place  where  there  had  never 
before  been  any  thing  but  foulness  and  abomina- 
tion." 

Tracy  had  at  first  meant  to  abandon  Fort  St. 
Anne  ;  but  he  changed  his  mind  after  returning  to 
Quebec.  Meanwhile  the  season  had  grown  ^u  hite 
that  there  was  no  time  to  send  proper  supplies  to 
the  garrison.  Winter  closed,  and  the  place  was 
not  only  ill  provisioned,  but  was  left  without  a 
priest.  Tracy  wrote  to  the  superior  of  the  Sulpi- 
tians  at  Montreal  to  send  one  without  delav;  hut 
the  request  was  more  easily  made  than  fuKiUed. 
for  he  forgot  to  order  an  escort,  and  the  wav  was 


1G6C. 


THE   CURf:  OF  ST.  ANNE. 


201 


long  and  dangerous.  The  stout-hearted  DolHer  de 
Casson  was  told,  however,  to  hold  himself  ready 
to  go  at  the  first  opportunity.  His  recent  cam- 
paigning had  left  him  in  no  condition  for  braving 
fresh  hardships,  for  he  was  nearly  disabled  by  a 
swelling  on  one  of  his  knees.  By  way  of  cure  he 
resolved  to  try  a  severe  bleeding,  and  the  Sangrado 
of  ]\Iontreal  did  his  work  so  thoroughly  that  his 
patient  fainted  under  his  hands.  As  he  returned 
to  consciousness,  he  became  aware  that  two  sol- 
diers had  entered  the  room.  They  told  him  that 
they  were  going  in  the  morning  to  Chambly, 
which  was  on  the  w\ay  to  St.  Anne ;  and  they 
invited  him  to  go  with  them.  ''  Wait  till  the  day 
after  to-morrow,"  replied  the  priest,  "  and  I  will 
try."  The  delay  was  obtained ;  and,  on  the  day 
fixed,  the  party  set  out  by  the  forest  path  to 
Chambly,  a  distance  of  about  four  leagues. 
When  they  reached  it,  Dollier  de  Casson  was 
nearly  spent,  but  he  concealed  his  plight  from  the 
commanding  officer,  and  begged  an  escort  to  St. 
Anne,  some  twenty  leagues  farther.  As  the  officer 
would  not  give  him  one,  he  threatened  to  go  alone, 
on  which  ten  men  and  an  ensign  were  at  last 
ordered  to  conduct  him.  Thus  attended,  he  re- 
sumed his  journey  after  a  day's  rest.  One  of  the 
soldiers  fell  through  the  ice,  and  none  of  his  com- 
rades dared  help  him.  Dollier  de  Casson,  making 
the  sign  of  the  cross,  went  to  his  aid,  and,  more 
successful  than  on  the  former  occasion,  caught  him 
and  pulled  him  out.  The  snow  was  deep  j  and  the 
priest,  having  arrived  in  the  preceding  summer, 


!02 


THE   MOHAWKS   CHASTISED. 


[ICGO. 


had  never  before  worn  snow-shoes,  vvliile  ;i  sack  of 
clothino",  and  liis  portal)le  chapel  which  he  cairied 
at  his  back,  joined  to  the  pain  of  his  knee  and  tlie 
effects  of  his  kite  bleeding,  made  tlie  march  a  ppv- 
(^atory. 

He  was  sorely  needed  at  Fort  St.  Anne.  ThfM'o 
was  pestilence  in  the  garrison.  Two  men  liad  just 
died  Avithout  absolution,  Avhile  more  were  at  the 
point  of  death,  and  praying'  for  a  priest.  Thus  it 
happened  that  when  the  sentinel  descried  far  off, 
on  the  ice  of  Lake  Chaniplain,  a  squad  of  soldiers 
approaching,  and  among  them  a  black  cassock, 
every  officer  and  man  not  sick,  or  on  duty,  came 
out  with  one  accord  to  meet  the  new-comer. 
They  overwhelmed  him  with  welcome  and  m\]\ 
thanks.  One  took  his  sack,  another  his  portable 
chapel,  and  they  led  hhn  in  triumph  to  the  fort. 
First  he  made  a  short  prayer,  then  went  his  roinii]?! 
among  the  sick,  and  then  came  to  refresh  himself 
with  the  officers.  Here  was  La  Motte  de  la  Lueiere, 
the  commandant;  La  Durantaye,  a  name  destined 
to  be  famous  in  Canadian  annals ;  and  a  niunljer  of 
young  subalterns.  The  scene  was  no  strange  one 
to  Dollier  de  Casson,  for  he  had  been  an  oflicer  of 
cavalry  in  his  time,  and  fought  nnder  Turenno ; ' 
a  good  soldier,  w^ithout  doubt,  at  the  mess  table  or 
in  the  field,  and  none  the  worse  a  priest  that  lie 
had  oncG  followed  the  Avars.  He  Avas  of  a  lively 
humor,  giA'cn  to  jests  and  mirth  ;  as  pleasant  a 
father  as  ever  said  BenedlcUe.     The  soldier  aiul 

1  Grandct,  Nnticp.  mannscrlte  siir  f)olIier  de.  Cassov,  extracts  from  copy 
in  possession  of  tlie  late  Jacques  A'iger. 


16GC. 


THE  CURfi  OF  ST.  ANNE. 


203 


the  (rcntleman  still  lived  under  the  cassock  of  the 
priest.  He  was  greatly  respected  and  beloved ; 
1111(1  lil^  influence  as  a  peace-maker,  which  he  often 
had  occasion  to  exercise,  is  said  -to  have  been 
romarkaljle.  When  the  time  demanded  it,  he 
coiiM  use  argvmients  more  cogent  than  those  of 
nioiiil  suasion.  Once,  in  a  camp  of  Algonquins, 
when,  as  he  was  kneeling  in  prayer,  an  insolent 
savnu'e  came  to  interrupt  him,  the  father,  without 
risiii'j:,  knocked  the  intruder  Hat  by  a  blow  of  his 
^\^i,  and  the  other  Indians,  far  from  being  dis- 
pleased, Avere  filled  with  admiration  at  the  ex- 
ploit.^ 

His  cheery  temper  now  stood  him  in  good  stead ; 
for  tliore  v/as  dreary  work  before  him,  and  he  was 
not  the  man  to  flinch  from  it.  The  garrison  of 
St.  Anne  had  nothing  to  live  on  but  salt  pork  and 
half-spoiled  flour.  Their  hogshead  of  vinegar  had 
sprung  aleak,  and  the  contents  had  all  oozed  out. 
They  had  rejoiced  in  the  supposed  possession  of  a 
reasonable  stock  of  brandy;  but  they  soon  dis- 
covered that  the  sailors,  on  the  vovas^e  from 
France,  had  emptied  the  casks  and  filled  them 
again  with  salt-water.  The  scurvy  broke  out  with 
fury.  In  a  short  time,  forty  out  of  the  sixty  men 
liecame  victims  of  the  loathsome  malady.  Day  or 
night.  DoUier  de  Casson  and  Forestier,  the  equally 
devoted  youno;  sur<2:eon,  had  no  rest.  The  sur- 
geon's  strength  failed,  and  the  priest  was  himself 
slightly  attacked  with  the  disease.     Eleven  men 


•  Grandet,  Xolice  maniiscrite  sur  DoUier  de  Casnon,  cited  by  Faillon,  Col' 
onie  FnuK^aisc,  III.  395,  8%. 


!04 


THE   MOHAWKS   CHASTISED. 


[I'-nr.-r,:. 


»-:^ 
i'ii>' 


died;  and  others  languished  for  want  of  hcij).  for 
their  comrades  shrank  from  entering  the  iiiircicd 
dens  where  they  hay.  In  their  extremity  some  of 
them  devised  an  ingenious  expedient.  Tliouuh 
they  had  nothing  to  bequeath,  they  made  wills  in 
which  they  left  imaginary  smus  of  money  to  tlio<e 
who  liad  befriended  them,  and  thenceforth  thcv 
found  no  lack  of  nursing. 

In  the  intervals  of  his  labors,  Dollier  de  Ca«:son 
would  run  to  and  fro  for  warmth  and  exercise  on 
a  certain  track  of  beaten  snow,  between  two  of  the 
bastions,  reciting  his  breviary  as  he  went,  so  tliat 
those  Avho  saw  him.  might  have  thought  him  out  of 
his  wits.  One  day  La  Motte  called  out  to  liliii  as 
he  was  thus  engaged,  "  Eh,  Monsieur  le  ciirr.  if 
the  Iroquois  should  come,  you  must  defend  tlmt 
bastion.  My  men  are  all  deserting  me,  and  n'oiiig 
over  to  vou  and  the  doctor  "  To  which  the  father 
replied,  ''Get  me  some  litters  Avith  wheels,  .'ind  I 
will  bring  them  out  to  man  my  bastion.  They 
are  brave  enou":h  now ;  no  fear  of  their  runninir 
away."  With  banter  like  this,  they  sought  to 
beguile  their  miseries ;  and  thus  the  winter  wore 
on  at  Fort  St.  Anne.^ 

Early  in  spring  they  saw  a  troop  of  Iroquois 
approaching,  and  prepared  as  Avell  as  they  could  to 
make  fight ;  but  the  strangers  proved  to  be  aiuhus- 

1  The  above  curious  incidents  are  told  by  Dollier  de  C!i.«s()ii,  in  liis 
Bistolre  dn  Montreal,  preserved  in  manuscript  in  the  Mazarin  Lilraryat 
Paris.  He  gives  no  hint  that  the  person  in  question  was  liiiiiM-lf,  but 
speaks  of  him  as  »n  eccle'siastiqne.  His  identity  is,  however,  uiado  certain 
by  internal  evidence,  by  a  passage  in  the  Notice  of  Grandet,  and  bj  other 
contemporary  allusions. 


1607.J 


JESUITS   AND   IROQUOIS. 


205 


siulors  of  peace.  The  destruction  of  the  Moluiwk 
towns  had  produced  a  deep  effect,  not  on  that 
iiiitioii  alone,  but  also  on  the  other  four  members 
of  the  league.  They  were  disposed  to  confirm  the 
promises  of  peace  which  they  had  already  made  ; 
and  I'racy  had  spurred  their  good  intentious  hy 
sending  them  a  message  that,  unless  they  quickly 
])ivseiited  themselves  at  Quebec,  he  would  hang  all 
the  ( Iiiefs  whom  he  had  kept  prisoners  after  dis- 
covering their  treachery  in  the  preceding  summer. 
Tiie  threat  had  its  effect :  deputies  of  the  Oneidas, 
Oiiondagas,  Cayugas,  and  Senecas  presently  arrived 
in  a  temper  of  befitting  humility.  The  Mohawks 
were  at  first  afraid  to  come  :  but  in  April  they  sent 
the  Flemish  Bastard  with  overtures  of  peace ;  and 
ni  July,  a  large  deputation  of  their  chiefs  appeared 
cit  Quebec.  They  and  the  rest  left  some  of  their 
families  as  hostages,  and  promised  that,  if  any  of 
their  people  should  kill  a  Frenchman,  they  would 
give  them  up  to  be  hanged.^ 

They  begged,  too,  for  blacksmiths,  surgeons, 
and  Jesuits  to  live  among  them.  The  presence 
of  the  Jesuits  in  their  towns  was  in  many  ways  an 
advantage  to  them ;  while  to  the  colony  it  was  of 
the  greatest  importance.  Not  only  was  conversion 
to  the  church  justly  regarded  as  the  best  means  of 
attaching  the  Indians  to  the  French,  and  alienating 
them  from  the  English ;  but  the  Jesuits  living  in 
the  midst  of  them  could  influence  even  those  whom 
they  could   not  convert,  soothe  rising  jealousies, 


'  Little  dn  Pere  Jean  Picrron,  de  la  Compagnle  de  J^xu/t,  escriptc.  de  la 
Motle  {Fort  Ste.  Anne)  I'nr  h  he  Ch  '.mplain,  le  i2ine  d'aonsl,  1CG7. 


20G 


THE   MOHAWKS   CHASTISED. 


1 1067. 


counteract  English  intrigues,  and  keep  tlio  nilci's 
of  the  colony  informed  of  all  tluit  wjis  passii^r  i^ 
the  Iroquois  towns.  Thus,  half  Christian  nilssiona. 
ries,  half  ])olitical  agents,  the  Jesuits  prepaicil  to 
resume  the  hazardous  mission  of  the  Jroipiois. 
Freuiiu  and  Pierron  were  ordered  to  the  Mohawks, 
Bruyas  to  the  Oneidas,  and  three  others  were  iiaiiicd 
for  the  remainiug  three  nations  of  the  league.  TIil' 
trooj)s  had  made  the  peace  ;  the  Jesuits  nncic  thy 
rivets  to  hold  it  fast;  and  peace  endured  without 
absolute  rupture  for  nearly  twenty  years.  01  nil 
the  French  expeditions  against  the  Irocpioi.s,  thiit 
of  Tracy  Avas  the  most  productive  of  good. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


1GG5-1G72. 


PATKUNAL  GOVERNMENT. 


TaI.OV.  —  TtKSTRICTION     AND     ^^()^'()I'OI,Y.  —  ViEWS    OF      COLHERT.  — 

Political  Galvanism.  —  A   Fatiiku  of  the   People. 

Tkact's  work  was  done,  and  he  left  Canada  with 
the  glitterhig  noblesse  in  his  train.  Courcelle  and 
Tciloii  remained  to  rule  alone ;  and  now  the  great 
experiment  was  begun.  Paternal  royalty  would 
try  its  hand  at  building  up  a  colony,  and  Talon 
was  its  chosen  agent.  His  appearance  did  him  no 
justice.  The  regular  contour  of  his  oval  face,  about 
which  fell  to  his  shoulders  a  cataract  of  curls,  natu- 
ral or  supposititious  j  the  smooth  lines  of  his  well- 
foriiied  features,  brows  delicately  arched,  and  a 
mouth  more  suggestive  of  feminine  sensibility  than 
of  masculine  force,  —  would  certainly  have  misled 
the  disciple  of  Lavater.^  Yet  there  was  no  want  of 
manhood  in  him.  He  Avas  most  happily  chosen 
for  the  task  placed  in  his  hands,  and  from  first  to 
last  approved  himself  a  vigorous  executive  officer. 
He  was  a  true  disciple  of  Colbert,  formed  in  his 
school  and  animated  by  his  spirit. 

'  His  portrait  is  at  the  Hotel  Dieu  of  Quebec.  An  engraving  from  it 
will  be  found  in  the  third  volume  of  Shea's  Charlevoix. 


»«■ 


•*T'  -.1 


1*\ 


208 


PATERNAL  GOVERNMENT. 


L16G&-72. 


Being  on  the  spot,  he  was  better  able  tlian  his 
master  to  judge  the  working  of  the  new  ordtT  of 
things.  With  regard  to  the  company,  he  writes 
that  it  will  profit  by  impoverishing  the  coloiiv  • 
that  its  monopolies  dishearten  the  people  and  ])ar- 
alyze  enterprise  ;  that  it  is  thwarting  the  intentions 
of  the  king,  who  wishes  trade  to  be  encouraged ; 
and  that,  if  its  exclusive  privileges  are  maintained, 
Canada  in  ten  years  will  be  less  populous  than 
now.^  But  Colbert  clung  to  his  plan,  thougli  he 
wrote  in  re23ly  that  to  satisfy  the  colonists  he  liad 
persuaded  the  company  to  forego  the  monopolies 
for  a  year.^  As  this  proved  insufficient,  the  com- 
pany was  at  length  forced  to  give  up  permanently 
its  right  of  exclusive  trade,  still  exacting  its  share 
of  beaver  and  moose  skins.  This  was  its  chief 
source  of  profit;  it  begrudged  every  sou  deducted 
from  it  for  charges  of  government,  and  the  king 
was  constantly  obliged  to  do  at  his  own  cost  that 
which  the  company  should  have  done.  In  one 
point  it  showed  a  ceaseless  activity ;  and  this  was 
the  levying  of  duties,  in  which  it  was  never  known 
to  fail. 

Trade,  even  after  its  exercise  was  permitted, 
was  continually  vexed  by  the  hand  of  authority. 
One  of  Tracy's  first  measures  had  been  to  issue  a 
decree  reducing  the  price  of  wheat  one  half.  The 
council  took  up  the  work  of  regulation,  and  lixed 
the  price  of  all  imported  goods  in  three  several 
tariii's,  —  one  for  Quebec,  one  for  Three  ilivers,  and 

I   Talon  a  Colbert,  4  Oct.,  1005. 
^  Colbert  a  Talon,  5  Avril,  1066. 


lGC.j-72.] 


COLBERT'S  INSTRUCTIONS. 


209 


one  lor  Montreal.^  It  may  well  be  believed  that 
tlieie  was  in  Canada  little  capital  and  little  enter- 
prise. Industrially  and  commercially,  the  colony 
was  almost  dead.  Talon  set  himself  to  galvanize 
it;  and,  if  one  man  could  have  supplied  the  intelH- 
oenee  and  energy  of  a  Avhole  community,  the  results 
would  have  been  triumphant. 

He  had  received  elaborate  instructions,  and  thev 
iiidieate  an  ardent  wish  for  the  prosperity  of  Canada. 
Colbert  had  written  to  him  that  the  true  means  to 
strengthen  the  colony  was  to  "  cause  justice  to  reign, 
establish  a  good  police,  protect  tlie  inhabitants, 
discipline  them  against  enemies,  and  procure  for 
them  peace,  repose,  and  plenty."  ^  '•  And  as,"  the 
minister  f urtlier  says,  '•  the  king  regards  his  Cana- 
dian subjects,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  almost 
as  his  own  children,  and  wishes  them  to  enjoy 
equally  with  the  people  of  France  the  mildness  and 
happiness  of  his  reign,  the  Sieur  Talon  will  study 
to  solace  them  in  all  thin^i-s  and  encouraij-e  tliem  to 
trade  and  industry.  And,  seeing  that  nothing  can 
better  promote  this  end  than  entering  into  the 
details  of  their  households  and  of  all  their  little 
affairs,  it  will  not  be  amiss  that  he  visit  all  their 
settlements  one  after  the  other  in  order  to  learn 
their  true  condition,  provide  as  much  as  possi- 
ble lor  their  wants,  juid,  })erforming  the  duty  of  a 
li'ood  head  of  a  family,  put  them  in  the  way  of 
making  some  profit."  The  intendant  was  also  told 
to  encourage  fathers  to  inspire  their  children  with 

1  Tariff  of  Prices,  in  .V.  Y.  Colonial  Docs.  IX.  36. 
'i  Colbert  a  Talon,  6  Avril,  lGi50. 

14 


)■>»■   '■/■.: 


210 


PATERNAL  GOVERNMENT. 


[1665-72, 


piety,  together  with  "  profound  love  and  respect 
for  the  royal  person  of  his  Majesty."  ^ 

Talon  entered  on  his  work  with  admirable  zt-al. 
Sometimes  he  used  authority,  sometimes  persuasion 
sometimes  promises  of  reward.  Sometimes,  again, 
he  tried  the  force  of  example.  Thus  he  built  a 
ship  to  show  the  people  how  to  do  it,  and  rouse 
them  to  imitation.^  Three  or  four  years  later,  the 
experiment  was  repeated.  This  time  it  was  at  the 
cost  of  the  king,  who  applied  the.  sum  of  forty  thou- 
sand livres^  to  the  double  purpose  of  promoting 
the  art  of  ship-building,  and  saving  the  colonists 
from  vagrant  habits  by  giving  them  employment. 
Titlon  wrote  that  three  hundred  and  fifty  men  had 
been  supplied  that  summer  with  work  at  the  charge 
of  government.* 

He  despatched  two  engineers  to  search  for  coal, 
lead,  iron,  copper,  and  other  minerals.  Important 
discoveries  of  iron  were  made;  but  three  genera- 
tions were  destined  to  pass  before  the  mines  were 
successfully  worked.^  The  copper  of  Lake  Supe- 
rior raised  the  intendant's  hopes  for  a  time,  but  he 
was  soon  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  too 
remote  to  be  of  practical  value.  He  labored  vig- 
orously to  develop  arts  and  numufactures ;  made 
a  l)arrel  of  tar,  and  sent  it  to  the  king  as  a  speci- 
men ;  caused  some  of  the  colonists  to  make  cloth 

•  IiiMnidioH  an  S'uur  Talon,  27  Mars,  U)()5. 

3   Talon  h  Collwrt,  Oct,  U)t)7  ;    Collwrt  a  Talon,  20  Fev.,  1668. 
3   I Ivptrhe  (le  Colhert,  U  Fev.,  107 1. 
<    Tahw  a  Colbert,  2  Xov.,  I(i71. 

*  CliarU'Voix  speaks  of  those  niiiies  ns  having  been  forgotten  for 
seventy  years,  and  redistjovered  in  his  time.  After  jtassiiitr  tlirouiili 
various  liands,  they  were  finally  worked  on  the  king's  account. 


-  -.)  1 


leoo-Ti:.] 


ACTIVITY  OF  TALON. 


211 


of  tlie  wool  of  the  sheep  which  the  king  had  sent 
out ;  encouraged  others  to  estabhsh  a  tannery,  and 
also  a  factory  of  hats  and  of  shoes.  The  Sieur 
Follin  was  induced  by  the  grant  of  a  monopoly  to 
begin  the  making  of  soap  and  potash.^  The  people 
Averc  ordered  to  grow  liemp,^  and  urged  to  gather 
the  nettles  of  the  country  as  material  for  cordage  ; 
and  the  Ursulines  were  supplied  with  flax  and  wool, 
ill  order  that  they  might  teach  girls  to  weave  and 
spill. 

Talon  w\as  especially  anxious  to  estaljlish  trade 
between  Canada  and  the  West  Indies  ;  and,  to  make 
a  beginning,  he  freighted  the  vessel  he  had  built 
with  salted  cod,  salmon,  eels,  pease,  fish-oil,  staves, 
and  planks,  and  sent  her  thither  to  exchange  her 
cargo  for  sugar,  which  she  was  in  turn  to  ex- 
chaiiu'e  in  France  for  <»'oods  suited  for  the  Canadian 
iiiai'ket.^  Another  favorite  object  with  him  was 
tJK!  fishery  of  seals  and  white  porpoises  for  the 
sake  ol"  their  oil ;  and  some  of  the  chief  merchants 
were  urged  to  undertake  it,  as  well  as  the  estab- 
lislinient  of  stationary  cod-fisheries  along  the  Lower 
St.  Lawrence.  But,  with  every  encouragement, 
many  years  passed  before  this  valuable  industry 
was  ])laced  on  a  firm  basis. 

Talon  saw  with  concern  the  huge  consumption 
uf  wine  and  l)randv  anion o:  the  settlers,  cost i no; 
tlieni,  as  he  wrote  to  Colljert,  a  hundred  tliousand 
li\  res  a  year ;    and,  to   keep   this  money  in  the 


1  If^i/istre  (fit  Conaeil  Soitrcrain. 

'^  .Marie  de  riiicariiation,  Clioi'x  dps  Lrttres  de,  371. 

"*  l.e  Mercier,  lid.  1007,  3 ;  Dt^piches  de  Talon. 


212 


PATERNAL  GOVERNMENT. 


[l'JOo-72 


colony,  he  declared  his  intention  of  buildinu'  a 
brewery.  The  minister  approved  the  plan,  not 
only  on  economic  groimds,  l)ut  becanse  "  the  vice 
of  drunkenness  would  thereafter  cause  no  more 
scandal  b}'  reason  of  the  cold  nature  of  beer,  the 
vapors  whereof  rarely  deprive  men  of  tlic  use 
of  judgment."^  The  brewery  was  accord  in  i-lv 
built,  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  the  poorer  colo- 
nists. 

Nor  did  the  active  intendant  fail  to  acquit  liiiii- 
self  of  the  duty  of  domiciliary  visits,  enjoined 
npon  him  by  the  royal  instructions ;  a  point  ori 
which  he  was  of  one  mind  with  his  superiors,  for 
he  writes  that  ''  those  char<j^ed  in  this  countrv  witli 
his  Majesty's  affairs  are  under  a  strict  o1)ligatioii 
to  enter  into  the  detail  of  families."  ^  'Accordinirly 
we  learn  Ironi  Mother  Juchereau,  that  "  he  studied 
with  the  affection  of  a  father  how  to  succor  the 
poor  and  cause  the  colony  to  grow ;  entered  into 
r.e  minutest  particulars;  visited  the  houses  of  the 
inhal)itants,  and  caused  them  to  visit  him ;  learned 
what  crops  each  one  was  raising ;  taught  those 
who  had  wheat  to  sell  it  at  a  profit,  helped  those 
who  had  none,  and  encouraged  everybody."  And 
Dollier  de  Casson  represents  him  as  visiting  in 
turn  every  house  at  Montreal,  and  giving  aid  tVoiii 
the  king  to  such  as  needed  it.^  Horses,  cattle. 
sheep,  and  other  domestic  animals,  were  sent  out 
at  the  royal  charge  in  considerable  numbers,  and 

1  Colbert  a  Talon,  20  Fev.,  1C68. 

'^  M^moire  (h'  1007. 

3  Ilistoire  du  Montreal,  a.d.  IGOO,  1667. 


166i>-72.] 


POLICY  OF  TALON. 


213 


distributed  gratuitously,  Avitli  an  order  that  none 
of  the  young  should  be  killed  till  the  countiy  Avas 
sutficientlj^  stocked.  Large  quantities  of  goods 
were  also  sent  from  the  same  high  quarter.  8ouie 
of  these  were  distributed  as  gifts,  and  the  rest 
bartered  for  corn  to  supply  the  troops.  As  the 
inteiidant  perceived  that  the  farmers  lost  much 
time  in  coming  from  their  distant  clearings  to  buy 
necessaries  at  Quebec,  he  caused  his  a^'ents  to 
furnish  them  with  the  king's  o'oods  at  their  own 
houses,  to  the  great  annoyance  of  the  merchants 
of  Quebec,  who  complained  that  their  accustomed 
trade  was  thus  forestalled.^ 

These  were  not  the  only  cares  which  occupied 
the  mind  of  Talon.  He  tried  to  open  a  road 
across  the  country  to  Acadia,  an  ahnost  impossible 
task,  in  which  he  and  his  successors  completely 
failed.  Under  his  auspices,  Albanel  penetrated  to 
Hudson's  Bay,  and  Saint  Lussontook  possession  in 
the  king's  name  of  the  country  of  the  Upper 
Lakes.  It  was  Talon,  in  short,  who  prepared  the 
way  for  the  remarkable  series  of  explorations 
described  in  another  work.^  A^rain  and  a<]^ain 
he  urged  upon  Colbert  and  the  king  a  measure 
from  which,  had  it  taken  effect,  mouientous  con- 
sequences must  have  sprung.  This  was  the  pur- 
chase or  seizure  of  New  York,  involving  the 
isohition  of  New  England,  the  suJjjection  of 
the  Iroquois,  and  the  undisputed  control  of  half 
the  continent. 


1  Tolon  a  roJhfvt,  10  Xor.,  1070. 

2  Discovery  of  the  Great  West. 


m 


■:.y- 


214 


TATERNAL   GOVERNMENT. 


[lCGo-72. 


Great  as  were  his  opportunities  of  abusing  his 
trust,  it  does  not  appear  that  he  took  advantn^'-e 
of  them.  He  held  lands  and  houses  in  Cauadn/ 
owned  the  brewery  which  he  had  established,  and 
embarked  in  various  enterprises  of  productive 
industry ;  but,  so  far  as  I  can  discover,  he  is  uo- 
where  accused  of  making  illicit  gains,  and  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  he  acquitted  himself  of  liis 
charge  with  entire  fidelity.^  His  health  failed  in 
1GG8,  and  for  this  and  other  causes  he  asked  for 
his  recall.  Colbert  granted  it  with  strong  expres- 
sions of  regret ;  and  when,  two  years  later,  lie  re- 
sumed the  intendancy,  the  colony  seems  to  have 
welcc  led  his  return. 

^  In  1682,  the  Intendaiit  Meules,  in  a  despatch  to  the  minister, 
makes  a  statement  of  Talon's  property  in  Quebec.  Tlie  cliief  items  are 
the  brewery  and  a  liouse  of  some  vahie  on  tlie  descent  of  Mountiiip 
Street.  He  owned,  also,  the  valuable  seigniory,  afterwards  barony, 
Des  Islets,  in  tlie  immediate  neighborhood. 

2  Somq  imputations  against  him,  not  of  much  weight,  are,  liowever, 
made  in  a  memorial  of  Aubert  de  la  Chesnaye,  a  merchant  of  Quebec. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

1GG1-1G73. 
MARRIAGE   AND   POPULATION. 
SiiiPMKNT  OF  Emigrants.  —  Soldier  Skttlers.  —  Importation  of 

WlVKS. WkDLOCK.  SUMMAKY    MkTHODS.  TlIE    MoTHKRS    OF 

Canada.  —  Bounties    on    Marriage.  —  Cei>ibact  Punished.  — 
BuuNTiEs  ON  Children.  —  liEsuLTa. 

The  peopling  of  Canada  was  due  in  the  main  to 
the  king.  Before  the  accession  of  Louis  XIY.  the 
entire  population,  priests,  nuns,  traders,  and  set- 
tlers, did  not  exceed  twenty-five  hundred ;  ^  but 
scarcely  had  he  reached  his  majority  when  the  ship- 
ment of  men  to  the  colony  was  systematically  be- 
gun. Even  in  Argenson's  time,  loads  of  emigrants 
sent  out  by  the  Crown  were  landed  every  year  at 
Quebec.  The  Sulpitians  of  Montreal  also  brought 
over  colonists  to  people  their  seigniorial  estate  ;  the 
same  was  true  on  a  small  scale  or  one  or  two  other 
propri'^tors,  and  once  at  least  the  company  sent  a 
considerable  number :  yet  the  government  was 
tlie  chief  agent  of  emigration.  Colbert  did  the 
work,  and  the  king  paid  for  it. 

In  1661,  Laval  wrote  to  the  cardinals  of  the 
Propaganda,  that  during  the  past  two  years  the 

^  Le  Clerc,  Etahiissement  de  la  Foi/,  II.  4. 


ii 


21G 


MARRIAGE   AND   rOPULATION. 


[It'Gl-Ga. 


king  had  spent  two  liundi'cd  thousand  livros  on 
the  colony;  that,  since  1G50,  he  had  sent  out  llnee 
Innidred  men  a  year;  and  that  he  had  iirouiist'd  to 
send  an  e(|ual  nuni])er  every  sunnner  (Uu'ing  ton 
years. ^  These  men  were  sent  hy  squads  in  mer- 
chant-ships, each  one  of  which  was  re([uiic(l  to 
carry  a  certain  number.  In  many  instances,  ciui- 
grants  were  bound  on  their  arrival  to  enter  into 
the  service  of  colonists  already  established.  In 
this  case  the  employer  paid  them  wages,  and  tiftcr 
a  term  of  three  years  they  became  settlers  tlieiu- 
selves.^ 

The  destined  emigrants  were  collected  by  a<rGnts 
in  the  provinces,  conducted  to  Dieppe  or  Koclielle, 
and  thence  embarked.  At  first  men  were  sent 
from  Rochelle  itself,  and  its  neighborhood ;  but 
Laval  remonstrated,  declaring  that  he  wanted 
none  from  that  ancient  stronghold  of  heresy.^ 
The  people  of  Rochelle,  indeed,  found  no  favor  In 
Canada.  Another  writer  describes  them  as  '-  ])er- 
sons  of  little  conscience,  and  almost  no  religion," 
adding  that  the  Normans,  Percherons,  Picards,  iuid 
peasants  of  the  neighborhood  of  Paris,  are  docile. 
industrious,  and  far  more  pious.  "  It  is  impor- 
tant," he  concludes,  "in  beginning  a  new  colony. 
to  sow  good  seed."  *  It  w^as,  accordingly,  from  the 
north-western  provinces  that  most  of  the  emigrant^ 

i  Lettre  rie  Lavnl  envoi/(fp  a  Rome.  21  Oct.,  1061  (extract  in  Faillon  from 
Archives  of  tlie  Propafianda). 

-  Marie  de  I'liicarnation,  18  Aout,  1604.  Tliese  emjayi's  were  some- 
times also  broufjlit  over  by  private  persons. 

3   Collxrt  a  Laval,  18  Mars,  1604. 

<  Mt'moire  de  1G64  (anonymous). 


1C65-72.] 


EMIGRANTS. 


217 


were  drawn. ^  They  seem  in  the  niuin  to  have 
been  a  decent  peasantry,  thongh  writers  wlio,  from 
their  position,  should  have  been  well  informed, 
liiive  denounced  them  in  unmeasured  terms.^ 
Some  of  them  could  read  and  write,  and  isome 
brought  with  them  a  little  monev. 

Talon  was  constantly  begging  for  more  men, 
till  Louis  XIV.  at  length  took  alarm.  Colbert 
replied  to  the  over-zealous  intend  ant,  that  the 
king  did  not  think  it  expedient  to  depopulate 
France,  in  order  to  people  Canada ;  that  he  wanted 
men  for  his  armies ;  and  that  the  colony  must  rely 
cliielly  on  increase  from  within.  Still  the  ship- 
ments did  not  cease ;  and,  even  while  tempering 
the  ardor  of  his  agent,  the   king   gave    another 


'  Sec  a  i)apor  by  Garneau  in  Le  X(iti(»inl  of  Quebec,  28  October,  1856, 
emboihing  the  results  of  researcli  among  tlie  papers  of  tlie  early  notaries 
of  Qiit'l)ec.  The  chief  emigration  was  from  Paris,  Normandy,  Poitou, 
Pkvs  d'Auiiis,  Brittany,  and  Picardy.  Nearly  all  those  from  Paris  were 
sent  by  the  king  from  houses  of  charity. 

-  "  Une  foule  d'aventuriers,  raniassos  au  hazard  en  France,  presque 
tons  (le  la  lie  du  peuple,  la  plupart  oberes  de  dettes  ou  charges  de  crimes." 
etc.  I/a  Tour,  \'ie  de  LtintI,  Liv.  IV.  "  Le  vice  a  oblige  la  plupart  de 
clierclier  ce  pays  comnie  un  asile  pour  se  mettre  i\  couvert  de  leurs  crimes," 
Muiiles,  beiieche  da  1682.  Monies  was  intendant  in  that  year.  Marie 
(le  I'liicariiation,  after  speaking  of  the  emigrants  as  of  a  very  mixed 
chavacter.  says  that  it  would  have  been  far  better  to  send  a  few  who 
were  u'ood  Christians,  rather  than  so  many  who  give  so  much  trouble. 
Litlredn—Oct.,  1(569. 

Lo  Clerc,  on  the  other  hand,  is  emphatic  in  praise,  calling  the  earlj' 
coloiiiiits,  "  trcs  honnotes  gens,  ayant  de  la  probite,  de  la  droiture,  et  de  la 
reliffjon.  .  .  .  L'on  a  examine  et  cboisi  les  habitants,  et  renvoye' en  Franco 
les  jiersonnes  vicieuses."  If,  he  adds,  any  such  were  left  "  i's  ettiicaient 
{lldiieu.sement  par  leur  penitence  les  taches  de  leur  premiere  condition." 
Cliailevoix  is  almost  as  strong  in  praise  as  La  Tour  in  censure.  Both  of 
tlieii)  wrote  in  the  next  century.  We  shall  have  means  hereafter  of 
judging  between  these  conflicting  statements. 


218 


MARRIAGE   AND   POPULATION. 


[ia:>.7-: 


», 


13  :i« 


f 
f 

<* 

iUM 

1 

■ 

^ 

1 

i 

v 

1 

1 

k 

f :' 

.^f'j. 

1 

proof  how  much  he  had  the  growth  of  Canadji  at 
heart. ^ 

The  reghnent  of  Carignan-Salieres  had  licen  or- 
dered lionie,  with  the  exception  of  four  companies 
kept  in  garrison,"  and  a  considerable  nunilxT  dis- 
cliarged  in  order  to  become  settlers.  Of  those  who 
returned,  six  companies  were,  a  year  or  two  later, 
sent  back,  discharged  in  their  turn,  and  con- 
verted into  colonists.  Neither  men  nor  officers  were 
positively  constrained  to  remain  in  Canada ;  but  the 
officers  were  told  that  if  they  wished  to  please  liis 
Majesty  this  was  the  way  to  do  so ;  and  both  they  iiiid 
the  men  were  stimulated  by  promises  and  rewards. 
Fifteen  hundred  livres  were  given  to  La  Motte,  be- 
cause he  had  married  in  the  country  and  meant  1o 
remain  there.  Six  thousand  livres  Avere  assii>'iied 
to  other  officers,  because  the}'  had  followed,  or  were 
about  to  follow,  La  Motto's  example  ;  and  twelve 
thousand  were  set  apart  to  be  distributed  to  the 
soldiers  under  similar  conditions.^  Each  soldier 
who  consented  to  remain  and  settle  was  promised 
a  grant  of  land  and  a  hundred  livres  in  money ;  or, 
if  he  preferred  it,  fifty  livres  with  provisions  for  a 
year.  This  military  colonization  had  a  strong  and 
lasting  influence  on  the  character  of  the  Canadian 
people. 

1  Tlie  king  hail  sent  out  more  emigrants  than  lie  had  promised,  to 
judge  from  tlie  census  reports  during  tlie  years  16GG,  101)7,  and  1068. 
Tlie  total  poi)ulation  for  tjiose  years  is  53418,  4312,  and  5870,  respectively. 
A  small  part  of  this  growth  may  he  set  down  to  emigration  not  uinler 
government  auspices,  and  a  large  i)art  to  natural  increase,  which  was 
enormous  at  this  time,  from  causes  whicli  will  soon  appear. 

^   Colbi'rt  a  Talon,  20  Fee.,  10G8. 

a  Ibid. 


luO.3-72.] 


IMPDUTATIOX   OF   WIVKS. 


219 


But  if  the  colony  was  to  grow  from  within,  the 
new  settlers  must  have  wives.  For  some  years 
past,  the  Sulpitians  had  sent  out  young  women  for 
the  supply  of  Montreal ;  and  the  king,  on  a  larger 
sale,  continued  the  benevolent  work.  Girls  for 
ihe  colony  were  taken  from  the  hospitals  of  Paris 
mid  of  Lyons,  which  were  not  so  much  hospitals  for 
the  sick  as  houses  of  refuge  for  the  poor.  INIother 
Marv  writes  in  1GG5  that  a  hundred  had  come  that 
<iiiiiiiier,  and  were  nearly  all  provided  with  hus- 
bands, and  that  two  hundred  more  Avere  to  come 
next  year.  The  case  was  lu'gent,  for  the  demand 
was  great.  Complaints,  however,  were  soon  heard 
that  women  from  cities  made  indifferent  partners  ; 
and  peasant  girls,  healthy,  strong,  and  accustomed 
to  field  work,  were  demanded  in  their  place.  Peas- 
ant girls  Avere  therefore  sent,  but  this  was  not  all. 
Officers  as  well  as  men  Avanted  Avives ;  and  Talon 
asked  for  a  consignment  of  young  ladies.  His  re- 
quest was  promptly  ansAvered.  In  1667,  he  Avrites : 
••  They  send  us  eighty-four  girls  from  Dieppe  and 
twenty-five  from.  Rochelle  ;  among  them  are  lilteen 
or  twenty  of  pretty  good  birth  ;  several  of  them 
are  really  demoiselles,  and  tolerably  Avell  brought 
lip."  They  complained  of  neglect  and  hardship 
during  the  voyage.  "  I  shall  do  Avhat  I  can  to  soothe 
their  discontent,"  adds  the  intendant ;  "for if  they 
write  (0  their  correspondents  at  home  how  ill  they 
have  l)een  treated  it  Avould  be  an  obstacle  to  your 
l)hin  of  sending  us  next  year  a  number  of  select 
young  ladies."  ^ 

1  "  Des  demoiselles  bicn  clioisirs.  '     Tahm  a  Colbert,  27  Oct.,  1667. 


J, 


Ir      "1 


I 


™P| 


!         I 


W^i 


220 


MARlilAGK   AND   POPULATION. 


[lOO.S-72. 


Throe  years  later  we  find  liini  asking  fur  iln^e 
or  four  more  in  behalf  of  eertain  bachelor  oIliciTs. 
The  response  snr[)asse(l  his  ntniost  wishes;  mid  l^. 
wrote  again:  ''It  is  not  expedient  to  send  uiore 
demoisdks.  1  have  had  this  year  fifteen  of  them 
instead  of  the  four  1  asked  for."  ' 

As  regards  i)easant  girls,  the  supply  i-ardy 
equalled  the  demand.  Count  Frontenac,  Coiir- 
eelle's  successor,  complained  of  the  scarcity :  ••  If 
a  hundred  and  fifty  girls  and  as  many  servants."  he 
says,  "  had  been  sent  out  this  year,  they  \\()ul(l 
all  have  found  husbands  and  masters  within  a 
month." « 

The  character  of  these  candidates  for  iiuitri- 
mony  has  not  escaped  the  pen  of  shuider.  The 
caustic  La  Ilontan,  writing  fifteen  or  twenty  years 
after,  dniws  the  following  sketch  of  the  mothers 
of  Canada  :  ^'  After  the  regiment  of  Carignan  Avas 
disbanded,  ships  were  sent  out  freighted  with 
girls  of  indifferent  virtue,  under  the  direction  of  a 
few  pious  old  duennas,  wdio  divided  them  into 
three  classes.  These  vestals  were,  so  to  speak, 
piled  one  on  the  other  in  three  different  hulls, 
where  the  bridegrooms  chose  their  brides  as  a 
butcher  chooses  his  sheep  out  of  the  midst  of  the 

1  Talov  a  Colbert,  2  Xov.,  1671. 

2  frontenac  a  Colbert,  2  Nov.,  1672.  This  year  only  eleven  girls  hail 
been  sent.  The  scarcity  was  due  to  the  indiscretion  of  Talon,  wlio  had 
written  to  the  minister  that,  as  many  of  the  old  settlers  had  daiijjliters 
just  becoming  marriageable,  it  would  be  well,  in  order  that  they  niiglit 
find  husbands,  to  send  no  more  girls  from  France  at  present. 

The  next  year,  1673,  the  king  writes  that,  though  he  is  involved  in  a 
great  war,  which  needs  all  his  resources,  he  has  nevertheless  sent  sixty 
more  girls. 


G5-72.] 


ASrEk{SIONS   OK   LA    IIOXTAN. 


221 


flock.  Tliore  was  wluM-ewith  to  content  tlie  most 
i;iut;isti('al  in  those  three  liarenis  ;  for  here  were 
to  Ik'  seen  the  tall  and  the  short,  the  hlond  and 
the  Itiown,  the  plump  and  the  lean  ;  everyhody, 
in  short,  found  a  shoe  to  fit  hiui.  At  the  end 
of  a  fori  night  not  one  was  left.  I  am  told  that  the 
plumpest  were  taken  first,  because  it  was  thought 
that,  being  less  active,  they  were  more  likely  to 
keep  at  home,  and  that  tliey  could  resist  the  winter 
cold  better.  Those  who  wanted  a  wife  aj)plied  to 
the  directresses,  to  wdiom  they  were  obliged  to 
make  known  their  possessions  and  means  of  liveli- 
hood l)efore  taking  from  one  of  the  three  classes 
the  girl  whom  they  found  most  to  their  liking. 
The  marriage  ^vas  concluded  forthwith,  with  the 
lii'lp  of  a  priest  and  a  notary,  and  the  next  day  the 
governor-general  caused  the  couple  to  be  pre- 
sented with  an  ox,  a  cow,  a  pair  of  swine,  a  pair 
of  fowls,  two  barrels  of  salted  meat,  and  eleven 
crowns  in  money."  ^ 

As  regards  the  character  of  the  girls,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  this  amusing  sketch  is,  in  the 
Jiiain,  maliciously  untrue.  Since  the  colon}"  began, 
it  hud  been  the  practice  to  send  back  to  France 
women  of  the  class  alluded  to  by  La  Ilontan,  as 
soon  as  they  became  notorious.^     Those  who  were 


1  La  Ilontan,  Nnuveaux  Voi/at/cs,  I.  11  (1709).  In  some  of  tlie  other 
editions,  tiie  same  account  is  given  in  ditlerent  words,  equally  lively  and 
scandalous. 

'^  This  is  the  statement  of  Boucher,  a  good  authority.  A  case  of  (he 
sort  in  1058  is  mentioned  in  the  correspondence  of  Argenson.  lioucher 
says  t'lirther,  that  an  assurance  of  good  character  was  required  from  the 
relations  or  friends  of  the  girl  who  wislied  to  emhark.  This  refers  to  a 
period  anterior  to  1G63,  when  Boucher  wrote  his  book.  Colbert  evidently 
cared  for  no  qualification  except  the  capacity  of  maternity. 


222 


PATKRNAL   GOVERNMENT. 


[1G0&-72. 


•f 


not  taken  from  institutions  of  charity  usually  be- 
longed to  the  families  of  peasants  overburdeiK'd 
v/ith  children,  and  glad  to  find  the  chance  of  estiil)- 
lishing  them."^  How  some  of  them  were  oljtaiiu'd 
appears  from  a  letter  of  Colbert  to  Ilarlay,  Arch- 
bishop of  Kouen.  "  As,  hi  the  parishes  about 
Rouen."  he  writes,  '^  fifty  or  sixty  girls  might  hu 
found  Avho  would  be  very  glad  to  go  to  Canada  to 
be  married,  I  beg  you  to  employ  your  credit  and 
authority  with  the  cures  of  thirty  or  forty  of  those 
parishes,  to  try  to  find  in  each  of  them  one  or  twu 
girls  disposed  to  go  voluntarily  for  the  sake  of  ii 
settlement  in  life."^ 

Mistakes  nevertheless  occurred.  '^  Along  ^\ith 
the  honest  people,"  complains  Mother  Mary,  '•  comes 
a  great  deal  of  canaille  of  both  sexes,  who  cause  a 
great  deal  of  scandal."^  After  some  of  the  yoiiDu' 
women  had  been  married  at  Quebec,  it  was  found 
t^at   they  had    husbands  at  home.      The  priestii 

1  TdiHnifjiKifje  d>-  In  Mere  chi  Plessis  flc  Sniuc-IItlene  (extract  in  Faillon). 

-   i'ollx  it  a  rArcliereijiif  de  Roncii,  27  /'Vi.\,  KiTO 

That  tliey  were  not  always  destitute  may  be  {ratliered  fmni  a  iiassa;,'e 
in  one  of  'I'alon's  letters.  "  Entre  les  filles  qu'on  fait  ))asser  iii  il  y  in  a 
qui  out  de  legitimes  et  considerables  pretentions  anx  successions  de  k'lirs 
parents,  niTMue  entre  ceHes  qui  sout  tirees  de  lTToi)ital  CJc'niMvil."  The 
General  Hospital  of  Paris  bad  recentl}'  been  estal)lislied  (UiAii)  as  a 
house  of  refufje  tor  the  "  Hobemians,"  or  vagrants  of  I'aris.  The  nival 
edict  creatinii'  it  says  tbat  "les  ])auvre8  mendiiints  et  invalides  des  licux 
eexes  y  seraient  enternu's  ])ourestre  employes  aux  luanufactureset  aiilircs 
travaux  selon  leur  poiivoir."  Tliey  weie  .uatliered  by  force  in  tlie  slricts 
by  a  lioiiy  '>.'  s])ecial  police,  called  "  Arcbers  de  rno|)ital."  They  iv- 
gisted  at  first,  and  serious  riots  ensued.  In  ICi'l'J,  tlie  CJeneral  ll(is|iiial 
of  Paris  contained  (iliilli  paui)ers.  See  Clement,  Ilisioiri'  di'  Collurt,  llo. 
Mother  de  SainteMeh'Mie  says  tbat  the  pirls  sent  from  this  asylum  had 
been  there  from  childhood  in  char^je  of  inms. 

•*  "  Heaucoup  de  canaille  de  i'lm  et  ['autre  sexe  qui  causont  bcaucoup 
de  scandale."     Lcltre  da  —  Oct.,  10(30. 


1GG5-72.] 


THE  MOTHERS  OF   CANADA. 


223 


ract  ill  Faillon). 


iseiit  bcaucoup 


became  cautious  in  tyin<^  the  nuitrinioulal  knot, 
and  Colbert  thereupon  ordered  that  each  girl  should 
provide  herself  with  a  certificate  from  the  cure  or 
magistrate  of  her  parish  to  the  effect  that  she  was 
free  to  marry.  Nor  was  the  practical  intendant 
mmiiudful  of  other  precautions  to  smooth  ihe 
path  to  the  desired  goal.  "  The  girls  destined  for 
this  country,"  he  WTites,  ^'besides  being  strong  and 
healthy,  ought  to  be  entirely  free  from  any  natural 
blemish  or  any  thing  personally  repulsive."  ^ 

Thus  giialified  canonically  „and__p^hysi_callyj^  the 
annual  consignment  of  young  women  was  shipped 
to  Quebec,  in  charge  of  a  matron  employed  and 
paid  by  the  king.  Her  task  was  not  an  easy  one, 
for  the  troop  under  her  care  was  apt  to  consist  of 
what  Mother  Mary  in  a  moment  of  unwonted  levity 
calls  "  mixed  goods."  ^  On  one  occasion  the  olHce 
was  undertaken  by  the  pious  widow  of  Jean  Bour- 
don. Her  flock  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  girls,  says 
Mother  Mary,  "  gave  her  no  little  trouble  on  the 
voyage ;  for  they  are  of  all  sorts,  and  some  of  tlieui 
are  very  rude  and  hard  to  manage."  Madame 
Bourdon  was  not  daunted.  She  not  only  saw  her 
charge  distributed  and  married,  but  slie  coutinued 
to  receive  and  care  for  the  subsequent  ship-loads 
as  they  arrived  summer  after  sunnner.     She  was 

1  Talon  a  Colbert,  10  Nov.,  1G70. 

'"  "  Uno  niarcliaiidis^e  melee."  Ldtre  dn  —  IfiGS.  In  tliat  year,  KifiS, 
tlie  killer  spent  40,000  livrcs  in  the  sliipiiient  of  men  nnd  girls.  In  IHtV.), 
n  liiinili I'll  and  fifty  girls  were  sent  ;  in  MTO,  a  hun<lred  and  sixty-five  ; 
ami  Talon  asks  for  a  linndred  and  fifty  or  two  Imndred  more  to  snpply 
tlie  soldiers  who  had  got  ready  their  houses  and  clearings,  and  were  now 
jirepiued  to  marry.  The  total  number  of  girls  sent  from  10(^6  to  lG7o, 
inclusive,  was  about  a  thousand. 


Is** ' 


224 


MARRIAGE  AND  POPULATION. 


11065-72. 


incleed  chief  among  the  pious  duennas  of  ^vlioni  La 
Ilontan  irreverently  speaks.  Marguerite  Boiir- 
ij^eovs  did  the  same  ^i-ood  offices  for  the  voimn' 
women  sent  to  Montreal.  Here  the  ''  king's  giiLs," 
as  they  were  called,  were  all  lodged  together  in  a 
house  to  which  the  suitors  repaired  to  make  {lieir 
selection.  "  I  was  obliged  to  live  there  myself," 
writes  the  excellent  nun,  "  because  families  were 
to  be  formed ; "  ^  that  is  to  say,  because  it  was  she 
who  superintended  these  extemporized  luiioiis. 
Meanwhile  she  taught  the  girls  their  cateeliism, 
and,  more  fortunate  than  Madame  Bourdon,  in- 
spired them  with  a  confidence  and  affection  Avliicli 
they  retained  long  after. 

At  Quebec,  where  the  matrimonial  market  was 
on  a  larger  scale,  a  more  ample  bazaar  was  needed. 
That  the  girls  were  assorted  into  three  classes,  each 
j)enned  up  for  selection  in  a  separate  hall,  is  a 
statement  probable  enough  in  itself,  but  resting  on 
no  better  authority  than  that  of  La  Ilontan.  Be 
this  as  it  may,  they  were  submitted  together  to 
the  inspection  of  the  suitor;  and  the  awkward 
3'oung  peasant  or  the  rugged  soldier  of  Carignan 
was  required  to  choose  a  bride  without  delay  from 
among  the  anxious  candidates.  They,  on  their 
part,  were  permitted  to  reject  any  applicant  who 
displeased  them,  and  the  first  question,  we  are  told. 
Avlii'di  most  of  them  asked  was  whether  the  suitor 
had  a  house  and  a  farm. 

Great  as  was  the  call  for  Avives,  it  was  thought 
prudent  to  stimulate  it.    The  new  settler  was  at  once 

^  Extract  in  Faillon,  Colonic  FnitK^aise,  III.  21-4. 


1605-72.] 


BOUNTIES   ON  MARRIAGE. 


225 


entlcod  and  driven  into  wedlock.  Bounties  were 
ol'tLTcd  on  early  marriages.  Twenty  livres  were 
li'iveii  to  each  youth  who  married  Ijefore  the  age 
of  twenty,  and  to  each  girl  who  married  before  the 
age  of  sixteen.^  This,  which  was  called  the  "  king's 
gift,"  was  exclusive  of  the  dowry  given  hy  him  to 
I'verv  uirl  brouy:ht  over  by  his  orders.  The  dowrv 
varied  greatly  in  form  and  value;  but,  according 
to  Mother  Mary,  it  was  sometimes  a  house  with 
provisions  for  eight  months.  More  often  it  Avas 
fifty  livres  hi  household  supplies,  besides  a  barrel 
or  two  of  salted  meat.  The  royal  solicitude  ex- 
ti'iidcd  also  to  the  children  of  colonists  already 
established.  "  I  pray  you,"  writes  Colbert  to 
Talon,  ''  to  commend  it  to  the  consideration  of  the 
whole  people,  that  their  prosperity,  their  subsist- 
ence, and  all  that  is  dear  to  them,  depend  on  a 
general  resolution,  never  to  be  departed  from,  to 
marry  youths  at  eighteen  or  nineteen  years  and 
gids  at  fourteen  or  fifteen  ;  since  al^undance  can 
never  come  to  them  except  through  the  ainmdance 
of  men.""  This  counsel  was  followed  by  appropri- 
ate action.  Any  father  of  a  family  who,  Avithout 
sliowino-  o;ood  cause,  neji:lected  to  marrv  his  chil- 
ilreii  when  they  had  reached  the  ages  of  twenty 
and  sixteen  was  fined  ;^  and  each  father  thus  de- 
lininicut  was  required  to  present  liimself  every  six 
mouths  to  the   local   authorities  to  declare   what 


'  Arrt't  (ht  Conseil  d'Etaf  ilii  Rnij  (see  Edits  et  Ordonnanccs,  I.  G7). 

'^  <'o///<;7  a  Tiilon,  'JO  /'Vc,  ICdS. 

'i  Anrts  (ht  Coiiseil  d'Elat,  ltj(i'>  (cited  hy  Faillon)  ;  Arrrt  dii  Caused 
nhiat,  lt)70  (^ey  Edits  et  OrditniKiiiees,  I.  07) ;  Ordimmtiirr  du  AViy,  ">  Arrd, 
ItJ'J'J.    bt'u  Clement,  Instructions,  etc.,  de  Colbert,  III.  2me  Tartie,  007. 

16 


.3S^. 


226 


MARRIAGE   AND  POPULATION. 


[ICG&-72. 


reason,  if  any,  he  had  for  such  delay.*  Orders 
were  issued,  a  little  before  the  arrival  of  the  yearly 
ships  from  France,  that  all  single  men  should  marry 
within  a  fortnight  after  the  landing  of  the  prospec- 
tive brides.  No  mercy  was  shown  to  the  obdurate 
bachelor.  Talon  issued  an  order  forbidding  un- 
mp.rried  men  to  hunt,  fish,  trade  with  the  Indians. 
or  go  into  the  wood-  under  any  pretence  whatso- 
ever.^ In  short,  they  were  made  as  miserable  as 
possible.  Colbert  goes  further.  He  writes  to  the 
intendant,  "  those  who  may  seem  to  have  abso- 
lutely renounced  marriage  sLjuld  be  made  to 
bear  additional  burdens,  and  be  excluded  from  all 
honors :  it  would  be  well  even  to  add  some  marks 
of  infamy."^  The  success  of  these  measures  Ava^ 
complete.  "  No  sooner,"  says  Mother  Mary,  -  haw 
the  vessL'ls  arrived  than  the  young  men  go  to 
get  wives ;  and,  by  reason  of  the  great  number 
they  are  married  by  thirties  at  a  time."  Through- 
out the  length  and  breadth  of   Canada,  Hymen, 

1   Ii<'i)istre  d»i  Consril  Soureram. 

'  T(iloi>  (HI  Minlstre,  10  Oct.,  1070.  CoHjcrt  lii^lily  approves  tliis  order. 
Fiiillon  foiiiul  a  case  of  its  enforcement  amonijj  the  ancient  records  nf 
Montreal.  In  December,  KiTO,  Francois  Le  Noir,  an  inliahitant  of  La 
(Miine,  was  summoned  before  tlie  jiiil;j,e.  because,  thoujib  a  siiif,'le  man,  lit 
bad  trailed  witb  Indians  at  bis  own  bouse.  lie  confessed  the  fact,  but 
jirotested  that  be  would  marry  witbin  three  weeks  after  the  arriral  ot 
the  vessels  from  France,  or,  fadinji  to  do  so,  that  be  would  give  a  liuiulrd 
and  fifty  livres  to  the  cluircb  of  Montreal,  an<l  an  equal  sum  to  tlie  Ims. 
pital.  On  this  condition  he  was  allowed  to  trade,  but  was  still  t'orliiiliKii 
to  ^'o  into  tiie  woods.  The  next  year  lie  kept  bis  woul,  and  iniirriid 
Marie  Maffdeleine  Cbarbonnier,  late  of  J'aris. 

The  prohibition  to  go  into  the  woods  was  probably  intended  to  prevent 
the  bachelor  from  finding  a  tem])()rary  Indian  substitute  for  a  Kreiicli  witV 

^  "  W  serait  ii  i)ropos  de  leur  augmenter  les  charges,  do  les  jn'ivcr  ile 
tons  honneurs,  mOme  d'y  ajouter  quelque  nuirque  d'infauiie."  hlti(  ''" 
20  /Vf.,  1G6H. 


160^3-72.] 


BOUNTIES   ON   CHILDREN. 


227 


if  not  Cupifl,  wiis^jwlijppcjijnto  a  frenzy  of 
activity.  DoUier  cle  Casson  tells  us  of  a  widow 
who  was  married  afresh  before  her  late  husband 
was  ] '.ried.^ 

Nor  was  the  fatherly  care  of  the  khig  confined 
to  the  humbler  classes  of  his  colonists,  lie  wished 
to  form  a  Canadian  noblesse,  to  which  end  early 
marriages  were  thought  needful  among  ofHcers  and 
others  of  the  belter  sort.  The  progress  of  such 
iiiarrlnges  was  carefully  Avatched  and  reported  by 
the  iiitendant.  We  have  seen  tlie  reward  bestowed 
upon  La  Motte  for  laking  to  himself  a  wife,  and 
the  money  set  apart  for  the  brother  olhcers  who 
imitated  him.  Li  his  despatch  of  October,  16G7, 
the  intendant  announces  that  two  captains  are 
ahead}'  married  to  two  damsels  of  the  country  ; 
that  a  lieutenant  has  espoused  a  daughter  of  the 
governor  of  Three  River.i ;  and  that  ''  four  ensigns 
are  in  treaty  with  their  mistresses,  and  are  already 
half  engaged."^  The  paternal  care  of  government, 
one  would  think,  could  scarcely  go  further. 

It  (lid,  however,  go  further.  Bounties  were 
offered  on  children.  The  king,  in  council,  jiassed 
a  (k'cree  '•  that  in  future  all  inhaljitants  of  the  said 
countrv  of  Canada  who  shall  have  livini»"  children 
to  the  number  of  ten,  born  in  lawful  wedlock,  not 


1  llistnirprln  }r»ufrciil,  A.D.  1071,  107'J. 

■  "QiiJitre  t'lisei^nit's  soiit  en  poiiricirlor  avpc  lours  mn'tresises  et  srnt 
'l''.i'i  ii  (Ifiiii  tiifin^o's."  I)e'iii"-he  dit  '27  'hi.,  ]^)Ct7.  Tlic  liiMitciiniit  was 
l>iiH'  (liiiiltier  (le  Varetiru's,  who  011  the  2(',(h  Scptt'iiihcr,  \M7,  marriod 
M;irii'  I'ouclior,  (litiif^hter  of  tlie  ,tro"ornor  of  Three  l{ivers,  (i(i((l iin  Iri  i/mrs. 
"lie  of  the  ehildren  of  this  niarnaj^e  was  Vareuiies  tie  hi  Vereiulrye, 
discoverer  of  tlie  Hocky  Mountains. 


»',^: 


m 


228 


>iAHRIAGE    AND   rOPLT.ATION. 


[1B0.J-T2. 


being  priests,  monks,  or  nuns,  shall  each  ho  paid 
out  of  the  moneys  sent  by  his  Majesty  to  tlic  said 
country  a  pension  of  three  hundred  livres  a  voar. 
and  those  who  shall  have  twelve  children,  a  pousion 
of  four  hundred  livres ;  and  that,  to  this  effect. 
they  shall  be  required  to  declare  the  nuinlx'i'  of 
their  children  every  year  in  the  months  of  .Time 
or  July  to  the  intendant  of  justice,  police,  and 
finance,  established  in  the  said  country,  who,  Ikiv- 
mg  verified  the  same,  shall  order  the  payment  of 
said  pensions,  one-half  in  cash,  and  the  other  lialt 
at  the  end  of  each  year."  ^  This  was  applicable  to 
all.  Colbert  had  before  offered  a  reward,  intended 
specially  for  the  better  class,  of  twelve  hundred 
livres  to  those  who  had  fifteen  children,  and  eiulit 
hundred  to  those  who  had  ten. 

These  Avise  encourao^ements,  as  the  worth v  Fail- 
Ion  calls  them,  were  crowned  with  the  desired 
result.  A  despatch  of  Tilon  in  1670  informs  the 
minister  that  most  of  the  young  women  sent  out 
last  s'uamer  are  pregnant  already,  and  in  1G71  lie 
announces  that  from  six  hundred  to  seven  hundred 
children  have  been  born  in  the  colony  during  the 
year ;  a  prodigious  number  in  view  of  the  sninll 
population.  The  climate  was  supposed  to  be  })ai- 
ticularly  favoraljle  to  the  health  of  women,  wliicli 

1  AV///.S  ct  OrdoniKnicrs,  I.  G7.  It  was  tljoiifjlit  at  tins  time  th:it  the 
Inilians,  iiiin<ile<l  with  the  Frencii,  nii^iit  l)t'coine  a  valuahle  part  of  the 
popiihition.  Tiie  reproductive  qualities  of  Indian  women,  tliereforo, 
became  an  ohject  of  Tah)n's  attention,  and  he  reports  tliat  tlicy  impair 
tiieir  fertility  by  nursing  their  children  h)nti'er  than  is  necessary;  ''hut," 
lie  adds,  "  this  obstacle  to  the  speeily  buildin<f  np  of  the  colony  can  lie 
overcome  by  a  police  regulation."  Memoire  siir  I'Elat  Fiffstnt  du 
Canada,   1G07. 


1C65-72.J 


DISAPPOINTMENT. 


229 


Is  somewhat  surprising  in  view  of  recent  American 
experience.  "  The  first  reflection  1  have  to  make," 
savs  DolUer  cle  Casson,  ''  is  on  the  advantage  that 
Avonien  have  in  this  place  {Monlrenl)  over  men, 
fur  though  the  cokl  is  very  wholesome  to  both 
sexes,  it  is  incomparably  more  so  to  the  female, 
Avlio  is  almost  immortal  here."  Her  fecundity 
niatclied  her  loni»:evitv,  and  was  the  admii-ation  of 
Talon  and  his  successors,  accustomed  as  they  were 
to  the  scanty  families  of  France. 

Why  with  this  great  natural  increase  joined  to 
an  immigration  which,  though  greatly  diminishing, 
(lid  not  entirely  cease,  was  there  not  a  correspond- 
ing increase  in  the  population  of  tlie  colony  ?  Why, 
more  than  half  a  century  after  the  king  took 
Canada  in  charge,  did  the  census  show  a  total  of 
less  than  twenty-five  thousand  souls  ?  The  reasons 
will  appear  hereafter. 

It  is  a  peculiarity  of  Canadian  immigration,  at 
this  its  most  flourishing  epoch,  that  it  was  mainly 
an  innnigration  of  single  men  and  single  women. 
The  cases  in  which  entire  families  came  over  were 
comparatively  few.'     The   new  settler  was  found 

'  Tlie  principal  eniijjration  of  fiimilics  soenis  to  liavebtcn  in  IfiGO 
"lieii,  at  tlie  urgency  of  Talon,  tlien  in  France,  a  C(-.'8iileral)le  number 
were  M'nt  out.  In  the  earlier  jieriod  tiie  eniijrration  of  families  was,  rela- 
tively, nuieli  {freater.  Thus,  in  lti;i4,  tiie  ])hysician  Giffard  hroufiht  over 
seven  to  i)eoi)le  his  sei<j;niory  of  Heauport.  JJefore  KjtJo,  when  the  king 
took  the  colony  in  hand,  the  emigrants  were  for  the  most  part  a[)prenticed 
laborers. 

Till'  zeal  with  which  the  king  entered  into  the  work  of  stocking  his 
ciilony  is  shown  by  numberless  passages  in  his  letters,  and  those  of  his 
niinister.  "The  end  and  the  rule  of  all  your  conduct,"  says  Colbert  to 
the  iiitendant  liouteroue,  "should  be  the  increase  of  the  colony  ;  and  on 
I'lis  point  you  should  never  be  satisfied,  but  labor  without  ceasing  to 


III  •■ 


m 


cfe^ 


:i*i 


230 


MARRIAGE  AND  POPULATION. 


[mrj-iz 


by  the  king ;  sent  over  by  the  king ;  and  supplied 
by  the  king  with  a  wife,  a  farm,  and  some  times 
with  a  house.  Well  did  Louis  XIV.  earn  the  title 
of  Father  of  New  France.  But  the  royal  zcsil  ^vas 
spasmodic.  The  king  was  diverted  to  other  cares, 
and  soon  after  the  outbreak  of  the  Dutch  war  in 
1672  the  regular  despatch  of  emigrants  to  Canada 
Avellnigh  ceased ;  though  the  practice  of  disband- 
ing  soldiers  m  the  colony,  giving  them  lands,  and 
turning  them  into  settlers,  was  continued  in  .some 
degree,  even  to  the  last. 

find  every  imaginable  expedient  for  preserving  the  inlmbitants,  attracting 
new  ones,  and  multiplying  them  by  marriage."  Instruclion  jionr  M, 
Boutewiie,  1G(J8. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

1665-1672. 

THE  NEW  HOME. 

Mji.itary  Frontier.  —  The  Canadian  Settler.  —  Seignior  and 
Vassal  — Example  of  Talon.  —  Tlan  of  Settlement.  —  As- 
PKCT  of  Canada.  —  Quebec.  —  The  Hiveh  Settlements  — 
Montreal.  —  The  Pioneers. 


We  have  seen  the  settler  landed  and  married ; 
let  us  follow  him  to  his  new  home.  At  the  end  of 
Talon's  administration,  the  head  of  the  colony,  that 
is  to  say  the  island  of  Montreal  and  the  borders  of 
the  Richelieu,  was  the  seat  of  a  peculiar  coloniza- 
tion, the  chief  object  of  which  was  to  protect  the 
rest  of  Canada  against  Iroquois  incursions.  The 
lands  along  the  Richelieu,  from  its  mouth  to  a  point 
above  Chambly,  Avere  divided  in  large  seigniorial 
grants  among  several  officers  of  the  regiment  of 
Cari^nan,  who  in  their  turn  granted  out  the  land 
to  the  soldiers,  reserving  a  sufficient  portion  as 
their  own.  The  officer  thus  became  a  kind  of 
111  1(1  al  chief,  and  the  whole  settlement  a  permanent 
military  cantonment  admirably  suited  to  the  object 
in  view.  The  disbanded  soldier  was  practically  a 
soldier  still,  but  he  was  also  a  farmer  and  a  land- 
holder.    , 


232 


THE  Xi:W   HOME. 


,^ 


;fc 


[l«tl5-72. 


Talon  liad  I'oeoniinoiKlod  this  plan  as  hi'inu  in 
accordance  with  the  example  of  the  Romans.  -Tiiu 
practice  of  that  })olitic  and  martial  people,"  he 
wrote,  ''may,  in  my  opinion,  be  wisely  adojiU'd  in 
a  country  a  thousand  leagues  distant  from  its 
monarch.  And  as  the  peace  and  harmony  of  peo- 
ples depend  above  all  things  on  their  iidi'lity  to 
their  sovereign,  our  first  kings,  better  statesmeii 
than  is  connnonly  snpposed,  introduced  into  newly 
conquered  countries  men  of  war,  of  approved  Irii.st, 
in  order  at  once  to  hold  the  inhabitants  to  their 
duty  within,  and  repel  the  enemy  from  without."' 

The  troops  were  accordingly  discharged,  and 
settled  not  alone  on  the  Richelieu,  but  also  alonir 
the  St.  Lawrence,  between  Lake  St.  Peter  and 
Montreal,  as  well  as  at  some  other  points.  The 
Sulpitians,  feudal  owners  of  Montreal,  adopted  a 
similar  policy,  and  surrounded  their  island  with 
a  border  of  liefs  large  and  small,  granted  partl\'  to 
officers  and  partly  to  humbler  settlers,  bold,  lun-dy, 
and  practised  in  bush-fighting.  Thus  a  line  of 
sentinels  was  posted  around  their  entire  shore, 
ready  to  give  the  alarm  whenever  an  enemy 
appeared.  About  Quebec  the  settlements,  covered 
as  they  were  by  those  above,  were  for  the  most 
part  of  a  more  pacific  character. 

To  return  to  the  Richelieu.  The  towns  and 
villages  wdiicli  have  since  grown  upon  its  l)anks 
and  along  the  adjacent  shores  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
owe  their  names  to  these  officers  of  Carignan,  an- 
cient lords  of  the  soil :  Sorel,  Chambly,  Saint  Oars, 

1  Projets  de  R6jlemens,  1G67  (see  Edits  et  Ordonnances,  II.  29). 


1600-72.] 


MILITARY  FRONTIER. 


2.03 


Conti'ocoeur,  Vareniios,  Verclieros.  Yet  let  it  not 
be  supposed  that  villages  sprang  np  at  once.  The 
iiiilitiuy  seignior,  valiant  and  ])oor  as  Walter  the 
Poiiiiiless,  was  in  no  condition  to  Avork  such  magic. 
His  personal  possessions  usually  consisted  ol"  little 
but  his  sword  and  the  money  which  the  king  had 
paid  him  for  marrying  a  wile.  A  domain  vaiying 
Iruiii  half  a  league  to  six  leagues  in  front  on  the 
rivei',  and  from  half  a  league  to  two  leagues  in 
depth,  had  been  freelj'  given  him.  When  he  had 
distriljuted  a  part  of  it  in  allotments  to  the  soldiers, 
a  variety  of  tasks  awaited  him:  to  clear  and  culti- 
vate  his  land ;  to  build  his  seigniorial  mansion,  often 
a  log  hut;  to  build  a  fort;  to  build  a  chapel;  and 
to  build  a  mill.  To  do  all  this  at  once  was  impos- 
sible. Chamblj'j  the  chief  proprietor  on  the  liiche- 
lieii,  was  better  able  than  the  others  to  meet  the 
exigency.  He  built  himself  a  good  house,  where, 
Avith  cattle  and  sheep  furnished  by  the  king,  he 
lived  in  reasonable  comfort.^  The  king's  fort,  close 
at  hand,  spared  him  and  his  tenants  the  necessity 
of  building  one  for  themselves,  and  furnished,  no 
doubt,  a  mill,  a  chapel,  and  a  chaplain.  Ilis  brother 
officers,  Sorel  excepted,  ^vere  less  fortunate.  They 
and  their  tenants  were  forced  to  provide  defence 
as  well  as  shelter.  Their  houses  were  all  built 
together,  and  surrounded  ])y  a  palisade,  so  as  to 
form  a  little  fortified  village.  The  ever-active 
benevolence  of  the  king  had  aided  them  in  the 
task,  for  the  soldiers  were  still  maintained  by  him 

1  Fio)itf')uic  ail  Miitisfre,  2  Xoi\,  1672.     Marie  de  rinciiriiation  speaks 
of  tlic'!-e  officers  on  tiie  Richelieu  as  ties  honnCics  (J'hs. 


ft 

ii 


I: 


234 


TIIK  NEW   HOME. 


[1005-72. 


wliilo  clearing  the  ImikIs  nnd  Iniilding  the  houses 
(lostincfl  to  bo  their  own;  nor  wuis  it  till  this  woi]^ 
WMs  (lone  that  the  provident  government  despMh  hcf] 
tliem  to  (Quebec  with  orders  to  bring  j)aek  wivos. 
The  settler,  thus  lodged  and  wedded,  was  recjiiiivd 
on  his  part  to  aid  in  clearing  lands  for  those  who 
sbould  come  after  hini.^ 

It  was  chiefly  in  the  more  exposed  parts  of  the 
colony,  that  the  houses  were  gathered  together  in 
palisaded  villages,  thus  forcing  the  settler  to  walk 
or  paddle  some  distance  to  his  farm,  lie  natu- 
rally preferred  to  build  Avhen  he  could  on  the  IVout 
of  his  farm  itself,  near  the  river,  which  sup[)lio(l 
the  place  of  a  road.  As  the  grants  of  land  wore 
ver}'  narrow,  his  house  Avas  not  far  from  that  of 
his  next  neighbor,  and  thus  a  line  of  dwellings  was 
ran<i:ed  alon^i;  the  shore,  formin":  what  in  local  lap- 
guage  was  called  a  cote^  a  use  of  the  word  peculiar 
to  Canada,  where  it  still  prevails. 

The  impoverished  seignior  rarely  built  a  chapel. 
Most  of  the  early  Canadian  churches  were  built 
Avitli  funds  furnished  by  the  seminaries  of  Quebec 
or  of  Montreal,  aided  by  contributions  of  nuiterial 
and  labor  from  the  parishioners.^  Meanwhile  mass 
was  said  in  some  house  of   the  neighborhood  by 

1  "  Sa  Majeste  semble  prctendre  faire  la  dopensc  ontiere  pour  toniier 
le  comnieiiceiiient  des  luibitaiions  par  I'abattis  dii  bois,  la  culture  et 
seiiieiu-e  de  deux  arpens  de  terre,  Tavaiice  de  quelques  fariues  jiux  t'li- 
niillos  venaiitt's,"  etc.,  etc.  Projfts  de  h'e'i/hriifiis,  1G07.  This  aiiplifil  to 
civil  and  uiilitar}'  settlers  alike.  Tlie  established  settler  was  allnwid  fmir 
years  to  clear  two  arpeiits  of  land  for  a  new-comer.  The  sol(licr^  were 
maintained  by  the  kinj>-  during  a  year,  while  preparing  their  faiuis  Mini 
houses.  Talon  asks  that  two  years  more  be  given  them.  2''alun  au  Roij, 
10  Nor.,  1670. 

1  La  Tour,  Vie  de  Laval,  chap.  x. 


Mi;:.-72.1 


MODKL   SKKiXIOIiV. 


235 


;i  missionary  priest,  paddling  his  canoe  from  village 
to  village,  or  ironi  cote  to  cote. 

The  mill  was  an  object  of  the  last  importance. 
It  was  built  of  stone  and  pierced  with  loopholes,  to 
serve  as  a  blockhouse  in  case  of  attack.  The 
oTC'iit  mill  at  Montreal  was  one  of   the  chief  de- 

r 

fences  of  the  place.  It  was  at  once  the  duty  and 
the  right  of  the  seignior  to  snpply  his  tenants,  or 
rather  vassals,  with  this  essential  requisite,  and 
they  on  their  part  were  required  to  grind  their 
grain  ;it  his  mill,  leaving  the  fourteenth  parl^  in 
payment.  But  for  many  years  there  was  not  a 
.^elgniory  in  Canada,  where  this  fraction  Avould  pay 
the  wages  of  a  miller ;  and,  except  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal corporations,  there  were  few  seigniors  who 
could  pay  the  cost  of  building.  The  first  settlers 
^vere  usually  forced  to  grind  for  themselves  after 
the  tedious  fashion  of  the  Indians. 

Talon,  in  his  capacity  of  counsellor,  friend,  and 
father  to  all  Canada,  arranged  the  new  settlements 
near  Quebec  in  the  manner  which  he  judged  best, 
and  which  he  meant  to  serve  as  an  example  to  the 
rest  of  the  colony.  It  was  his  aim  to  concentrate 
population  around  this  point,  so  that,  should  an 
enemy  appear,  the  sound  of  a  cannon-shot  from 
the  Chateau  St.  Louis  might  summon  a  numerous 
body  of  defenders  to  this  the  common  point  of 
renckvA'ous.^  He  bought  a  tract  of  land  near 
Quebec,  laid  it  out,  and  settled  it  as  a  model  seign- 
iory, hoping,  as  he  says,  to  kindle  a  spirit  of  emu- 
lation among  the  new-made  seigniors  to  whom  he 

1  Projets  de  R^ylemens,  1607. 


236 


THE  NEW   HOME. 


[16G5-72. 


had  granted  lands  from  the  king.  He  also  laid 
out  at  the  royal  cost  three  villages  in  tla'  im- 
mediate  neighborhood,  planning  them  with  uieut 
care,  and  peopling  them  ]:)artly  with  families  iu'wly 
arrived,  partly  with  soldiers,  and  partly  with  old 
settlers,  in  order  that  the  new-comers  might  take 
lessons  from  the  ex})erience  of  these  vetciaiis. 
'j'hat  each  village  might  be  comjilete  in  itself, 
he  furnished  it  as  well  as  he  could  Avith  the  lU'cd- 
ful  carpenter,  mason,  blacksmith,  and  shoeiuaker. 
These  inland  villages,  called  respectively  Bouri- 
Royal,  Bourg  la  Reine,  and  Bourg  Talon,  did  nut 
prove  very  thrifty.^  Wherever  the  settlers  were 
allowed  to  choose  for  themselves,  they  ranged  their 
dwellings  along  the  watercourses.  With  the  ex- 
ce})tion  of  Talon's  villages,  one  could  have  seen 
nearly  every  house  in  Canada,  by  paddling  a  eaiioe 
up  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Richelieu.  The  set- 
tlements formed  long  thin  lines  on  the  edges  of  the 
rivers ;  a  convenient  arrangement,  but  one  \  erv 
unfavorable  to  defence,  to  ecclesiastical  control,  and 
to  strong  government.  The  king  soon  discovered 
this  ;  and  repeated  orders  were  sent  to  concentrate 
the  inhabitants  and  form  Canada  ^into  villaues, 
instead  ot  cotes.  To  do  so  would  have  invohcfl  a 
general  revocation  of  grants  and  abandonment  uf 
houses  and  clearings,  a  measure  too  arbitrary  and 
too  wasteful,  even  for  Louis  XIV.,  and  one  ex- 
tremely dilhcult  to  enforce.  Canada  persisted  in 
attenuating  hei'self,  and  the  royal  will  was  foiled. 

•  III  1^)72,  tilt'  kinff,  ns  a  mark  of  lionor,  nttaclied  tliese  villages  to 
Talou's  seigniory.     JJocuments  uii  Seigniorial  Teuure. 


16G.>-"--] 


ASPECT   OF  CANADA. 


237 


these  villages  to 


As  \()ii  ascended  the  St.  Lawrence,  the  first 
liarboi'Ing  pL^ce  of  civihzation  was  Tadoussac,  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Sagnenay,  where  the  company 
had  its  trachng  station,  where  its  agents  ruled 
liupreuie,  and  Avhere,  in  early  summer,  all  was 
alive  with  canoes  and  wigwams,  and  troops  of  Mon- 
ta^nais  savages,  bringing  their  furs  to  market. 
Lcnive  Tadoussac  behind,  and,  embarked  in  a  sail- 
boat or  a  canoe,  follow  the  northern  coast.  Far 
on  the  left,  tAventy  miles  away,  the  southern  shore 
lies  pale  and  dim,  and  mountain  ranges  Avave  their 
faint  outline  along  the  sky.  You  pass  the  beetling 
roeks  of  Mai  Bay,  a  solitude  but  for  the  bark  hut 
of  some  Avanderiug  Indian  beneath  the  cliff;  the 
Ebouleuients  with  their  wild  romantic  gorge,  and 
foaming  waterfalls ;  and  the  Bay  of  St.  Paul  Avith 
its  t)r()ad  A'alley  and  its  Avoody  moinitains,  rich 
with  hidden  stores  of  iron.  Vast  piles  of  savage 
verdure  border  the  mighty  stream,  till  at  length 
the  mountain  of  Cape  Tourmente  upheaves  its  huge 
bulk  from  the  bosom  of  the  water,  shadowed  by 
loweriuii:  clouds,  and  dark  Avith  forests.  Just 
be\ond,  be<ji:in  the  settlements  of  Laval's  vast 
seigniory  of  Beaupre,  Avhich  had  not  been  for- 
gotten in  the  distribution  of  emigj-ants,  and  Avhich, 
in  1(»()7;  contained  more  inhaljitauts  than  Quebec 
itself.'  The  ribbon  of  rich  meadow  land  that  bor- 
ders that  beautiful  shore,  Avas  yelloAV  Avith  Avheat 

^  Tlio  census  of  1007  jiives  to  Quebec  oiil}-  448  souls  ;  Goto  de  Boauprd, 
6oG;  Hciiiiport,  l'J3;  Island  of  Orleans,  (ViO  ;  other  st'ttleineiits  ineliideil 
uiiiltT  the  jioveniiueiit  ot"  Qtiehec,  1,011  ;  ("ole  de  Laiizon  (sontii  siiore), 
Ihi;  Trois  Rivieres  and  its  dependencies,  600;  Montreal,  700.  Both 
lieiiupio  and  Isle  d'Orleaus  belonged  at  this  time  to  the  bishop. 


238 


THE   NEW  HOME. 


[lGC.5-72. 


in  harvest  time,  and  on  the  Avoocly  slopes  Ijoliind 
the  frequent  clearings  and  the  solid  little  dwilliivs 
of  logs  continued  for  a  long  distance  to  relieve  the 
sameness  of  the  forest.  After  passing  the  catnract 
of  Montmorenci,  there  was  another  settleineiU, 
much  smaller,  at  Beauport,  the  seigniory  of  tlic 
ex-physician  Gilfard,  one  of  the  earliest  proprietors 
in  Canadji.  The  neighl)oring  shores  of  the  island 
of  Orleans  were  also  edged  with  houses  and  clear- 
ings. The  promontory  of  Quebec  now  towered 
full  in  sight,  crowned  with  church,  fort,  chateau, 
convents,  and  seminarv.  There  was  little  else  on 
the  rock.  Priests,  nuns,  government  officials,  and 
soldiers,  were  the  denizens  of  the  Upper  Town; 
while  connnerce  and  the  trades  were  cabined  aloni:' 
the  strand  beneath.^  From  the  gallery  of  tlu' 
chateau,  you  might  toss  a  pebljle  far  down  on  ibeir 
shingled  roofs.  In  the  midst  of  them  was  :lie 
magazine  of  the  compau}',  Avith  its  two  loiind 
towers  and  two  projecting  wings.  It  was  here 
thot  all  the  beaver-skins  of  the  colony  were  eol- 
lected,  assorted,  and  shipped  for  France.  The  so- 
called  chateau  St.  Louis  was  an  indifferent  wooden 
structuie  planted  on  a  site  truly  superb;  ahove 
the  Lower  Town,  above  the  river,  above  the  ships. 
gazing  abroad  on  a  majestic  panorama  of  waters. 
forests,  and  mountains.'-  Behind  it  was  the  are;i 
of   the   fort,   of   which   it  formed   one   side.     The 

•  Acc'oi'iling  to  JiK^Iierejiu,  tliere  wore  seventy  houses  at  (Jiieliec  iilmiit 
the  time  of  Tniey's  arrival. 

2  In  ICii'tO,  an  exact  inventory  was  taken  of  tlie  contents  of  the  I'orl  mul 
cliatcan  ;  a  l»e^;iarly  aecoinit  of  rubbish.  The  chateau  was  thm  a  hmg 
low  buihhng  roofed  with  shingles. 


1665-72.] 


QUEBEC. 


239 


at  QiK'liL'C  ii'ioiit 


crovcrnor  lived  in  the  cli.'iteau,  and  soldiers  were 
on  guard  night  and  day  in  the  fort.  At  some 
little  distance  was  the  convent  of  the  Ursulines, 
iiiilv  l)at  sidjstantial/  Avhere  Mother  Mary  of  the 
Ineaniation  ruled  her  pupils  and  her  nuns ;  and 
a  little  further  on,  towards  the  right,  was  the 
Hotel  Dieu.  Between  them  were  the  massive 
buildings  of  the  Jesuits,  then  as  now  facing  the 
principal  square.  At  one  side  was  their  church, 
iiewl}'  finished  ;  and  opposite,  across  the  square, 
stood  and  still  stands  the  great  church  of  Xotre 
Danic.  Behind  the  church  was  Laval's  seminary, 
with  the  extensive  enclosures  belonging  to  it.  The 
siiu'chaussce  or  court-house,  the  tavern  of  one 
Jaccpies  Boisdon  on  the  square  near  the  church, 
and  a  few  houses  along  the  line  of  what  is  now  St. 
Louis  Street,  couq)rised  nearly  all  the  civil  part 
of  the  Upper  Town.  The  ecclesiastical  buildings 
Avere  of  stone,  and  the  church  of  Notre  Dame  and 
the  Jesuit  College  were  marvels  of  size  and  solid- 
ity in  view  of  the  poverty  and  weakness  of  the 
colon  v.^ 

Proceeding  upward  along  the  north  shore  of  the 
St.  Lawrence,  one  found  a  cluster  of  houses  at  Cnp 
IkOuge,  and,  further  on,  the  frequent  rude  begin- 
nings of  a  seigniory.    The  settlements  thickened  on 

'  Tliore  is  an  onifravinff  of  it  in  Abbo  Ciisfjrain's  interesting  Vie  de 
Marie  (Ir  nncdnidtioii.     It  was  liuriicil  in  1()W). 

'■'  Tie  first  stone  of  Notre  Dame  de  Qneljec  was  laiti  in  Septenilier, 
ion,  ami  tlie  first  mass  was  said  in  it  on  tlie 'Jltli  of  Decemiier,  l()")i). 
The  side  walls  still  remain  as  part  of  the  present  striietnre.  'I'lie  .Jesuit 
coljejii.'  was  also  l)egun  in  1047.  The  walls  and  root'  were  liiiislied  in 
I'il'.i.  riie  church  connected  with  it,  since  destroyed,  was  begun  in 
IGOG.    Journal  des  J  ^suites. 


w 


240 


TIIK  NEW  HOME. 


[l»JijO-72, 


approjicliing  Three  Rivers,  a  fur-tradiiig  liaiuk't 
enclosed  with  a  square  paUsade.  Above  this  jiljue 
a  line  of  incipient  seigniories  bordered  the  livor 
most  oi  them  granted  to  officers  :  Laubia,  a  ca})tain- 
Labadie,  a  sergeant ;  Moras,  an  ensign ;  Bertliier 
a  cai)tain ;  Ivaudin,  an  ensign ;  La  A^alterie,  a  Yivn- 
tenant.^  Under  their  auspices,  settlers,  niilitarv 
and  civilian,  Avere  ranging  themselves  along  tlie 
shore,  and  ugly  gaps  in  the  forest  thickly  set  Avitli 
stumps  bore  witness  to  their  toils.  These  settle- 
ments rapidl}^  extended,  till  in  a  few  years  a  clmin 
of  houses  and  clearings  reached  with  little  iiiter- 
rnption  from  Quebec  to  Montreal.  Such  was  the 
fruit  of  Trac^''s  chastisement  of  the  Mohawks.,  and 
the  inlhix  of  immigrants  that  followed. 

As  you  approached  Montreal,  the  fortified  iiiill 
built  by  the  Sulpitians  at  Point  aux  Treiiil'  "i 
towered  above  the  woods  ;  and  soon  after  the  iiewlv 
Iniilt  chapel  of  the  Infant  Jesus.  More  settlements 
followed,  till  at  length  the  great  fortified  mill  of 
Montreal  rose  in  sight;  then  tho  long  row  of  coiu- 
pact  wooden  houses,  the  Hotel  Dieu,  and  the  vowAi 
masonry  of  the  seminary  of  St.  Sulpice.  Bevoiid 
the  town,  the  clearings  continued  at  intervals  till 
you  rcjiched  Lake  St.  Louis,  where  young  Cavelier 
de  la  Salle  had  laid  out  his  seigniory  of  La  Chine. 
and  abandoned  it  to  begin  his  hard  career  of  west- 
ern exploration.     Above  the  island  of  Montreal, 


1  Doc'iinu'iits  on  tlie  St'ijrniorial  Tonuro  ;  Abstracts  of'Titk's.  Most  (it 
these  [i;raiits,  like  t\u>st\  on  tlie  Hiclielieu,  were  made  by  Talon  in  I'm-; 
but  tlie  land  had,  in  many  cases,  been  occupied  and  cleared  in  anticipation 
of  the  title. 


1665-72.1 


THE  PIONEERS. 


241 


the  wilderness  was  broken  only  by  a  solitary  trading 
station  on  the  neighboring  Isle  Perot. 

Now  cross  Lake  St.  Louis,  shoot  the  rapids  of 
La  Cliine,  and  follow  the  southern  shore  downw\ard. 
Here  the  seigniories  of  Longueuil,  Boucherville, 
Varennes,  Yercheres,  and  Contrecoeur  were  already 
begun.  From  the  fort  of  Sorel  one  could  visit  the 
military  seigniories  along  the  liichelieu  or  descend 
towards  Quebec,  passing  on  the  way  those  of  Lus- 
saudiere,  Becancour,  Lotbiniere,  and  others  still  in 
a  sliaj)eless  infan'^y.  Even  far  below  Quebec,  at 
St.  Anne  de  la  Pocatiere,  River  Quelle,  and  other 
point.',  cabins  and  clearings  greeted  the  eye  of  the 
passing  canoeman. 

For  a  year  or  two,  the  settler's  initiation  was  a 
roiiu'li  one ;  but  when  he  had  a  few  acres  under 
tillage  he  could  support  himself  and  his  family  on 
tlie  produce,  aided  by  hunting,  if  he  knew  how  to 
use  a  gun,  and  by  the  bountiful  profusion  of  eels 
Avliicli  the  St.  Lawrence  never  failed  to  vield  in 
their  season,  and  which,  smoked  or  salted,  supplied 
his  larder  for  months.  Li  winter  he  hewed  timber, 
sawed  planks,  or  split  shingles  for  the  market  of 
Quebec,  obtaining  in  return  such  necessaries  as  he 
retpiiied.  With  thrift  and  hard  work  he  Avas  sure 
of  conit'ort  at  last ;  but  the  former  habits  of  the 
military  settlers  and  of  many  of  the  others  were 
not  favorable  to  a  routine  of  dogged  industry.  The 
sameness  and  solitude  of  their  new  life  often  became 
iiisulferable ;  nor,  married  as  they  had  been,  was 
the  domestic  hearth  likely  to  supply  muc]<  consola- 
tion.    Yet,  thrifty  or  not,  they  multiplied  apace. 

10 


242 


THE  NEW  HOME. 


[166 


•j-(, 


"  A  poor  man,"  says  Mother  Mary,  "  will  have  eight 
children  and  more,  who  run  about  in  winter  with 
bare  heads  and  bare  feet,  and  a  little  jacket  on 
their  backs,  live  on  nothing  but  bread  and  eels, 
and  on  that  grow  fat  and  stout."  With  such  treat- 
ment the  weaker  sort  died;  but  the  strong  sur- 
vived, and  out  of  tliis  rugged  nursing  sprang  the 
hardy  Canadian  race  of  bush-rangers  ond  bush- 
fighters. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


16G3-1763. 


CANADIAN  FEUDALISM. 


Transpi.antation  ok  Feudalism.  —  Precautions.  — Faith  and  Hom- 
age. —  The  Seignior.  —  The  Censitaire.  —  Royal  Interven- 
tion. —  The  Gentilhomme.  —  Canadian  Noblesse. 

Canadian  society  was  beginning  to  form  itself, 
and  at  its  base  was  the  feudal  tenure.  European 
feudalism  was  the  indigenous  and  natural  growth 
of  political  and  social  conditions  which  preceded  it. 
Canadir.n  feudalism  was  an  offshoot  of  the  feudalism 
of  France,  modified  by  the  lapse  of  centuries,  and 
further  modified  by  the  royal  will. 

Ill  France,  as  in  the  rest  of  Europe,  the  system 
had  lost  its  vitality.  The  warrior-nobles  who  placed 
Hugh  Capet  on  the  throne,  and  began  the  feudal 
monarchy,  formed  an  aristocratic  republic,  and  the 
king  was  one  of  their  number,  whom  they  chose  to 
be  their  chief.  But,  through  the  struggles  and 
vicissitudes  of  many  succeeding  reigns,  royalty  had 
waxed  and  oligarchy  had  waned.  The  fact  liad 
changed  and  the  theory  had  changed  with  it.  The 
king,  once  powerless  among  a  host  of  turbulent 
nobles,  was  now  a  king  indeed.     Once  a  chief, 


f  Hi 


244 


CANADIAN  Fi:UDALISM. 


[1P'G3-17G3. 


because  his  equals  had  made  him  so,  he  was  now 
the  anointed  of  the  Lord.  This  triumpli  of  rovaUv 
had  cidrainated  in  Louis  XIV.  The  stormy  ener- 
gies and  bold  individualism  of  the  old  feudal  nobles 
had  ceased  to  exist.  They  who  had  held  his  pre- 
decessors in  awe  had  become  his  obsequious  ser- 
vants. He  no  longer  feared  his  nobles ;  he  prized 
tnem  as  gorgeous  decorations  of  his  court,  and 
satellites  of  his  royal  person. 

It  was  Richelieu  who  first  planted  feudalism  in 
Canada.^  The  king  would  preserve  it  there,  because 
with  its  teeth  drawn  he  w^as  fond  of  it,  and  because, 
as  the  feudal  tenure  prevailed  in  Old  Franco,  it 
was  natural  that  it  should  prevail  also  in  the  New. 
But  he  continued  as  Richelieu  had  begun,  and 
moulded  it  to  the  form  that  pleased  him.  Notliiin- 
was  left  wdiicli  could  threaten  his  absolute  and 
undivided  authority  over  the  colony.  Li  France, 
a  multitude  of  privileges  and  j^i'escriptions  still 
clung,  despite  its  fall,  about  the  ancient  ruling 
class.  Few'  of  these  w^ere  allow^ed  to  cross  the 
Atlantic,  while  the  old,  lingering  abuses,  which 
had  made  the  system  odious,  w^ere  at  the  same 
time  lopped  away.  Thus  retrenched,  Canadiiin 
feudalism  Avas  made  to  serve  a  double  end ;  to 
produce  a  faint  and  harmless  reflection  of  French 
aristocracy,  and  simply  and  practically  to  sup^ily 
agencies  for  distributing  land  among  the  settlers. 

The  nature  of  the  precautions  which  it  was  held 
to  require  appear  in  the  plan  of  administration 
which  Talon  and  Tracy  laid  before  the  minister. 

1  By  the  cliarter  of  the  Company  of  the  Hundred  Associates,  1G27. 


1663-17G3.] 


PRECAUTIONS. 


245 


jle  cud  ;   to 


Thev  urge  that,  in  view  of  the  distance  from 
Fnuice,  special  care  ought  to  be  taken  to  prevent 
changes  and  revohitions,  aristocratic  or  otherwise, 
in  the  colony,  whereby  in  time  sovereign  jurisdic- 
tions might  grow  up,  as  formerly  occurred  in 
various  parts  of  France.'  And,  in  respect  to  grants 
already  made,  an  inquiry  was  ordered,  to  ascertain 
*•  if  seigniors  in  distributing  lands  to  their  vassals 
have  exacted  any  conditions  injurious  to  the  rights 
of  the  Crown  and  the  subjection  due  solely  to  the 
king."  In  the  same  view  the  seignior  was  denied 
any  voice  whatever  in  the  direct.  )n  f  government; 
and  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  ay  mat  the  essen- 
tial feature  of  feudalism  in  the  day  of  its  vitality, 
the  requirement  of  military  service  by  the  lord 
from  the  vassal,  was  utterly  mknown  in  Canada. 
The  royal  governor  called  out  the  militia  whenever 
he  saw  fit,  and  set  over  it  what  officers  he  pleased. 
The  seignior  was  usually  the  innnediate  vassal 
of  the  Crown,  from  which  he  had  received  his 
land  gratuitously.  In  a  few  cases,  he  made  grants 
to  other  seigniors  inferior  in  the  feudal  scale,  and 
they,  his  vassals,  granted  in  turn  to  their  vassals, 
the  habitant.'^  or  cultivators  of  the  soil.^     Sometimes 

'  Pnijct  de  Re(iltmpnt  fait  par  MM.  de  Tracy  et  Talon  pour  la  justice  et 
la  distriliidion  des  tetrcs  du  Canada,  Jan.  24,  1667. 

'^  Most  of  the  seigniories  of  Canada  were  simple  fiefs;  but  there  were 
some  exceptions.  In  1671,  tlie  king,  as  a  mark  of  iionor  to  Talon,  erected 
his  seigniory  Des  Islets  into  a  barony  ;  and  it  was  soon  afterwards  made 
an  earldom,  comte.  In  1676,  the  seigniory  of  St.  Laurent,  on  the  island 
of  Orleans,  once  the  property  of  Laval,  and  then  belonging  to  Francois 
Benhelot,  councillor  of  the  king,  was  erected  into  an  earldom.  In  1681, 
the  seigniory  of  Portneuf,  belonging  to  TJene  Robineau,  chevalier,  was 
made  a  barony.  In  1700,  three  seigniories  on  the  south  side  of  the  St. 
I-awrence  were  xmited  into  the  barony  of  Lengueuil.  See  Papers  on 
the  Feudal  Tenure  in  Canada,  Abstract  of  Titles. 


246 


CANADIAN  FP:UDALISM. 


[1CG;M7G3. 


the  hahitant  held  dh-ectly  of  the  Crown,  in  which 
case  there  was  no  step  between  the  higliest  iiiul 
lowest  degrees  of  the  feudal  scale.  The  seiunioi- 
held  by  the  tenure  of  faith  and  homage,  the  /labl- 
tant  by  the  inferior  tenure  en  censlce.  Faith  and 
homage  were  rendered  to  the  Crown  or  other 
feudal  superior  whenever  the  seigniory  cliaii^^i'd 
hands,  or,  in  the  case  of  seigniories  held  Ijy  cor- 
porations, after  long  stated  intervals.  Tlie  folhjw- 
ing  is  an  example,  drawn  from  the  early  da}'s  of  the 
colony,  of  the  performance  of  this  ceremoiiv  hy 
the  owner  of  a  fief  to  the  seignior  who  had  granted 
it  to  him.  It  is  that  of  Jean  Guion,  vassal  of  Gif- 
fard,  seignior  of  Beauport.  The  act  recounts  how, 
in  presence  of  a  notary,  Guion  presented  himself 
at  the  principal  door  of  the  manor-house  of  Beau- 
port  ;  how,  having  knocked,  one  Boulle,  farmer  of 
Giffard,  opened  the  door,  and  in  reply  to  Guioii's 
question  if  the  seignior  was  at  home,  replied  that 
he  was  not,  but  that  he,  Boulle,  was  empowered 
to  receive  acknowledgments  of  faith  and  homage 
from  the  vassals  in  his  name.  "  After  the  wliich 
reply,"  proceeds  the  act,  ''  the  said  Guion,  being 
at  the  principal  door,  placed  himself  on  his  knees 
on  the  ground,  with  head  bare,  and  without  ^vord 
or  sj)urs,  and  said  three  times  these  words :  "  Mon- 
sieur de  Beauport,  Monsieur  de  Beauport,  Monsieur 
de  Beauport,  I  bring  you  the  faith  and  homage 
which  1  am  bound  to  bring  you  on  account  of  my 
fief  Du  Buisson,  which  I  hold  as  a  man  of  faith  of 
your  seigniory  of  Beauport,  declaring  that  1  otfer 
to  pay  my  seigniorial  and  feudal  dues  in  their 


1603-1703.] 


FAITH  AND  HOMAGE. 


247 


season,  and  clenianding  of  you  to  accept  me  in 
faith  and  homage  as  aforesaid."^ 

Tho  following  instance  is  the  more  common  one 
of  {I  seignior  holding  directly  of  tlie  Crown.  It  is 
widely  separated  from  the  first  in  point  of  time, 
having  occurred  a  year  after  the  army  of  Wolfe 
entered  Quebec.  Philippe  Noel  had  lately  died, 
and  Jean  Noel,  his  son,  inherited  his  seigniory  of 
Tilly  and  Bonsecours.  To  make  the  title  good, 
faith  and  homage  must  be  renewed.  Jean  Noel 
was  under  the  bitter  necessity  of  rendering  this 
duty  to  General  Murray,  governor  for  the  king  of 
Great  Britain.  The  form  is  the  same  as  in  the 
case  of  Guion,  more  than  a  century  before.  Noel 
repairs  to  the  Government  House  at  Quebec,  and 
knocks  at  the  door.  A  servant  opens  it.  Noel 
asks  if  the  governor  is  there.  The  servant  replies 
that  he  is.  Murray,  informed  of  the  visitor's  object, 
comes  to  the  door,  and  Noel  then  and  there,  ''  with- 
out sword  or  spurs,  with  bare  head,  and  one  knee  on 
the  ground,"  repeats  the  acknowledgment  of  faith 
and  homage  for  his  seigniory.  He  was  compelled, 
however,  to  add  a  detested  innovation,  ihc  oath  of 
iidelity  to  his  Britannic  Majesty,  coupled  with  a 
pledge  to  keep  his  vagsals  in  obedience  to  the  new 


sovereign. 


The  seignior  was  a  proprietor  holding  that  rela- 
tion to  the  feudal  superior  which,  in  its  pristine 

^  Ferland,  Notes  siir  les  Rcr/istres  de  Notre  Dame  de  Quebec,  65.  Tliis 
was  ii  Jicf  en  rofiirc,  as  distinguished  from  a.  Jiefnoble,  to  whicii  judicial 
powers  and  otlier  privileges  were  attached. 

^  See  the  act  in  Observations  de  Sir  L,  H,  Lafontaine,  Bart.,  stir  la  Tenure 
Seiijneiii-iale,  217,  note. 


ill 


248 


CANADIAN  FEUDALISM. 


[1GC3-1703. 


«  !  ■ 


■*H 


character,  hus  boon  truly  (loscribecl  as  servile  in 
i'orin,  proud  and  buld  in  .spirit.  But  in  (Jjuiadii 
this  bold  spirit  was  very  h\v  from  l)eing  .streiioth- 
ened  by  the  chan<]:es  which  the  policy  of  the  Ciown 
had  introdueed  into  the  system.  Tlie  reservjitiuii 
of  mines  and  minerals,  oaks  for  the  royal  navy, 
roadways,  and  a  site,  if  needed,  for  royid  forts 
and  magazines,  had  in  it  nothing  extraonlliiaiy, 
The  great  difference  between  the  position  of  tlio 
Canadian  seignior  and  that  of  the  vassal  pro[)ri('tor 
of  the  Middle  Ages  lay  in  the  extent  and  nature 
of  the  control  which  the  Crown  and  its  ollicers 
held  over  him.  A  decree  of  the  king,  an  edict  of 
the  council,  or  an  ordinance  of  the  intenclaut, 
might  at  any  moment  change  old  conditions,  in, pose 
new  ones,  interfere  between  the  lord  of  the  miuior 
and  his  grantees,  and  modify  or  annul  his  ])aigains, 
past  or  present.  He  was  never  sure  whether  or  Mot 
the  government  Avould  let  him  alone;  and  against 
its  most  arbitrary  intervention  he  had  no  remedy. 
One  condition  was  imposed  on  him  which  may 
be  said  to  form  the  distinctive  feature  of  Canadian 
feudalism ;  that  of  clearing  his  land  Avithin  a  limited 
time  on  pain  of  forfeiting  it.  The  object  was  the 
excellent  one  of  preventing  the  lands  of  the  colony 
from  lying  waste.  As  the  seignior  was  often  the 
penniless  oAvner  of  a  domain  tln-ee  or  four  leagues 
wide  and  proportionably  deep,  he  CQuld  not  clear 
it  all  himself,  and  was  therefore  under  the  iioces- 
sity  of  placing  the  greater  part  in  the  hands  of 
those  who  could.  But  he  Avas  forbidden  to  sell 
any  part  of  it  w  hich  he  had  not  cleared,     He  must 


1663-17G3.] 


TIIK    CENSITAIRE. 


249 


r^rant  It  without  price,  on  condition  of  a  small  por- 
petuiil  rent;  and  this  hrings  us  to  the  cultiviitur  of 
the  soil,  the  censitalre,  the  broad  bnsc  of  the  feudal 
pyi'iunid.^ 

Tlio  tenure  e)i  censlve  by  Avhich  the  censitalre 
held  of  the  seignior  consisted  in  the  obligation  to 
iiiakt'  annual  payments  in  money,  produce,  or  both. 
In  Canada  these  payments,  known  as  cen.s  et  rente, 
were  strangely  div^erse  in  amount  and  kind ;  but, 
ill  (ill  the  early  period  of  the  colony,  they  were 
ahnost  ludicrously  small.  A  common  charge  at 
Montreal  was  half  a  sou  and  half  a  pint  of  wheat 
for  each  arpent.  The  rate  usually  fluctuated  in 
the  early  times  between  hiilf  a  sou  and  two  sous, 
so  tliat  a  farm  of  a  hundred  and  sixty  arpents 
would  pay  from  four  to  sixteen  francs,  of  which  a 
pari  would  be  in  money  and  the  rest  in  live  capons, 
Avheat,  eggs,  or  all  three  together,  m  pursuance  of 
contracts  as  amusing  in  their  precision  as  they  are 
bewildering  in  their  variety.      Live   capons,  esti- 


'  Tlie  jrreater  part  of  tlie  grants  made  by  the  old  Company  of  New 
France  were  resumed  by  tlie  Crown  for  neglect  to  occupy  and  improve 
the  land,  which  was  granted  out  anew  under  the  administration  of  Talon. 
The  most  remarkable  of  these  forfeited  grants  is  that  of  the  vast  domain 
of  La  (itiere,  large  enough  tor  a  kingdom.  Lauson,  afterwards  governor, 
liai]  ol)tained  it  from  the  company,  but  had  failed  to  improve  it.  Two  or 
three  sul)-grant8  which  he  had  made  from  it  were  held  valid ;  the  rest 
was  rennited  to  the  royal  domain.  On  repeated  occasions  at  later  dates, 
nc'jrli^aMit  seigniors  were  threatened  with  the  loss  of  half  or  the  whole  of 
tlieir  land,  and  various  cases  are  recorded  in  wiiich  the  tlireat  took  effect. 
In  1741,  an  ordinance  of  the  governor  and  intendant  reunited  to  the  royal 
domain  seventeen  seigniorie.-.  at  one  stroke ;  but  the  former  owners  were 
tohl  that  if  within  a  year  they  cleared  and  settled  a  reasonable  part  of  the 
forfeited  estates,  the  titles  should  be  restored  to  them.  Edita  el  f^rdon- 
nances,  II,  655.  In  the  ease  of  the  hahiiuut  or  censitaire  forfeit!'  i  for 
neglect  to  improve  the  land  and  live  on  it  are  very  numerous. 


250 


CANADIAN  FEUDALISM. 


[1663-17G3. 


i 


f,' 


*fo 


1^; 


iti. 


*  5 
>■•• 


mated  at  twenty  sous  each,  though  sometimes  not 
worth  ten,  form  a  conspicuous  feature  in  these 
agreements,  so  that  on  pay-day  the  seignior's  bjtrn- 
yard  presented  an  animated  scene.  Later  in  the 
history  of  the  colony  grants  Avere  at  somewliiit 
higher  rates.  Payment  was  commonly  made  on 
St.  Martin's  day,  when  there  was  a  general  muster 
of  tenants  at  the  seigniorial  mansion,  with  a  ])ro- 
digious  consumption  of  tobacco  and  a  correspond  in*'- 
retail  of  neighborhood  gossip,  joined  to  the  out- 
cries of  the  captive  fowls  bundled  together  for 
delivery,  with  legs  tied,  but  throats  at  full  liberty. 

A  more  considerable  but  a  very  uncertain  source 
of  income  to  the  seignior  were  the  lods  et  vcntes, 
or  mutation  fines.  The  land  of  the  cemltme 
passed  freely  to  his  heirs ;  but  if  he  sold  it,  a 
twelfth  part  of  the  purchase-money  must  be  paid 
to  the  seignior.  The  seignior,  on  his  part,  was 
equally  lia))le  to  pay  a  mutation  fine  to  his  feudal 
superior  if  he  sold  his  seigniory ;  and  for  him  tlie 
amount  was  larger,  being  a  qii'uit,  or  a  fifth  ot"  the 
price  received,  of  which,  however,  the  greater  part 
was  deducted  for  immediate  payment.  Tliis  heavy 
clnirge,  constituting,  as  it  did,  a  tax  on  all  impi'ove- 
ments,  was  a  principal  cause  of  the  abolition  of  the 
feudal  tenure  in  1854. 

The  obligation  of  clearing  his  land  and  living  on 
it  was  laid  on  seignior  and  censltaire  alike ;  but 
the  latter  was  under  a  variety  of  other  obligations 
to  the  fornuu'.  ptirtly  imposed  by  custom  and  partly 
established  by  agreement  when  the  grant  was 
made.     To  <!:rind  his  ^rain  at  the  seiu'uior's  mill, 


ant  u' 

'  Tin 

goveriKii 

■'  hti 

»  LtU 

1663-1763.] 


ROYAL  INTERVENTION. 


251 


bake  his  bread  in  the  seignior's  oven,  work  for  him 
one  or  more  days  in  the  year,  and  give  him  one 
fish  ill  every  eleven,  for  the  privilege  of  fishing  in 
the  river  before  his  farm ;  these  were  the  most 
annoying  of  the  conditions  to  which  the  censltaire 
was  liable.  Few  of  them  were  enforced  with  much 
regularity.  That  of  baking  in  the  seignior's  oven 
was  rarely  carried  into  effect,  though  occasionally 
used  for  purposes  of  extortion.  It  is  here  that  the 
royal  government  appears  in  its  true  character,  so 
far  as  concerns  its  relations  Avitli  Canada,  that  of  a 
well-meaning  despotism.  It  continually  intervened 
between  censitcdre  and  seignior,  on  the  principle 
diat  "  as  his  Majesty  gives  the  land  for  nothing,  he 
can  make  what  conditions  he  pleases,  and  change 
them  when  he  pleases."  ^  Tliese  interventions 
were  usually  favorable  to  the  censltaire.  On  one 
oceasion  an  intendant  reported  to  the  minister, 
that  in  his  opinion  all  rents  ought  to  be  reduced 
to  one  sou  and  one  live  capon  for  every  arpent 
of  front,  equal  in  most  cases  to  forty  superficial 
arpeiits.~  Every  thing,  he  remarks,  ought  to  be 
brought  down  to  the  level  of  the  first  grants 
'•made  in  days  of  innocence,"  a  happy  period 
which  he  does  not  atteuipt  to  define.  The  minister 
ivj)lies  that  the  diversity  of  the  rent  is,  in  fact, 
vexatious,  and  that,  for  his  part,  he  is  disposed  to 
abolish  it  altogether.^  Neither  he  nor  the  intend- 
ant gives  the  slightest  hint  of  any  compensation 

'  This  doctrine  is  liiid  ddwii  in  a  letter  of  tlie  Marqui!)  de  Beauliarnois, 
governor,  to  tiie  minister,  17;14. 

•■*  fj'tire  de  Rtindot,  pt'ii ,  ait  M'mlstre,  10  Nov.,  1707. 
'  Lttire  de  Pondimiruin  a  liandot,  pere,  13  Jtiin,  1708. 


'It? 
*1. 


i 


252 


CANADIAN  FEUDALISM. 


[1063-1763. 


to  the  seignior.  Though  these  radical  measures 
were  not  executed,  many  changes  were  decreed 
from  time  to  time  in  the  relations  between  seignior 
and  censitcdre,  sometimes  as  a  simple  act  of  sover- 
eign power,  and  somethnes  on  the  ground  tliar  the 
grants  had  been  made  with  conditions  not  recog- 
nized by  the  Coutiime  de  Paris.  This  was  tlie 
code  of  law  assigned  to  Canada ;  but  most  of  the 
contracts  between  seignior  and  censitaire  had  been 
agreed  upon  in  good  faith  by  men  who  knew  as 
much  of  the  Coutume  de  Paris  as  of  the  Capitula- 
ries of  Charlemagne,  and  their  conditions  had 
remained  in  force  unchallenged  for  generations. 
These  interventions  of  government  sometimes  con- 
tradicted each  other,  and  often  proved  a  dead 
letter.  They  are  more  or  less  active  through  the 
whole  period  of  the  French  rule. 

The  seignior  had  judicial  powers  which,  how- 
ever, were  carefully  curbed  and  r  itrollod.  His 
jurisdiction,  when  exercised  at  aii,  exteuded  in 
most  cases  only  to  trivial  causes.  He  very  rarely 
had  a  prison,  and  seems  never  to  have  abused  it. 
The  dignity  of  a  seigniorial  gallows  with  Itujh 
justice  or  jurisdiction  over  heinous  offences  was 
granted  only  in  three  or  four  instances.' 

Four  arpents  in  front  by  forty  in  depth  were 
the  ordinary  dimensions  of  a  grant  en  cemlce. 
These  ri))])ons  of  land,  nearly  a  mile  and  a  halt 
long,  Avith  one  end  on  the  river  and  the  other  on 


•  Baronies  and  roiiU<f>i  were  empowerc-d  to  set  up  gallows  and  pillories 
to  which  the  arms  of  the  owner  were  afflxcd.  See,  for  example,  the  eiliit 
creatinjf  the  Barony  des  Islets. 


1663-17G3.] 


THE  HABITANT. 


253 


the  uplands  behind,  usually  combined  the  advan- 
tau'cs  of  meadows  for  cultivation,  and  forests  for 
timber  and  firewood.  So  long  as  the  censitaire 
1)10 light  in  on  St.  Martin's  day  his  yearly  capons 
and  Iii^  yearly  handful  of  copper,  his  title  against 
the  seignior  was  -perfect.  There  are  farms  in 
Caiinda  which  have  passed  from  father  to  son  for 
two  hundred  years.  The  condition  of  the  culti- 
vator was  incomparably  better  than  that  of  tlie 
Freueh  peasant,  crushed  by  taxes,  and  oppressed 
by  feudal  burdens  far  heavier  than  those  o^  Canada. 
Ill  fact,  tlje  Canadian  settler  scorned  the  name  of 
peasant,  and  then,  as  now,  was  always  called  the 
habitant.  The  government  held  him  in  wardship, 
watched  over  him,  interfered  with  liim,  but  did 
not  oppress  him  or  allow  others  to  oppress  hiui. 
Canada  Avas  not  governed  to  the  profit  of  a  class, 
and  if  the  king  wished  to  create  a  Canadiiui  noblesse 
lie  took  care  that  it  should  not  bear  hard  on  the 
countrv.^ 

Under  a  genuine  feudalism,  the  ownership  of 
land  conferred  nobility;  but  all  this  was  changed. 
The  king  and  not  the  soil  was  now  the  parent  of 
honor.  France  swarmed  with  landless  nobles,  while 
I'Dtarkr  land-holders  ;>'rew  dailv  more  numerous. 
hi  Canada  half  the  seii»:niories  were  in  vGturier  or 
pK'heiau  hands,  and  in  course  of  time  some  of  theui 

'  On  tlie  soipiioiiiil  tenure,  I  liave  examined  the  wliole  of  the  mass 
iifimiKTs  ])i'inte(l  at  tlie  time  wlien  tlie  (|uestion  of  its  abolition  was  umler 
tiist'iij^sion.  A  great  deal  of  letial  research  am!  learning  was  then  devoted 
to  tiio  sahjeet.  The  argiwnen.t  of  Mr.  Dunkin  in  i)ehaU  of  (he  seigniors, 
Mini  the  observations  of  Judge  Lafontaine,  are  especially  instructive,  as  is 
also  the  collected  correspondence  of  the  governors  and  intendants  with 
the  central  government,  on  inatiers  relating  to  the  seigniorial  system. 


If 
t 


254 


CANADIAN  FErDALTSM. 


[ir)0:>1763. 


came  into  possession  ol  persons  on  very  liuinl^le 
degrees  of  the  socitii  scale.  A  .seigniory  could  he 
bought  and  sold,  and  a  trader  oi  a  thrifty  luihltant 
might,  and  often  did  become  the  buyer.^  If  the 
Canadian  noble  was  always  a  seignior,  it  is  fjir  from 
being  true  that  the  Canadian  seignior  was  always 
a  noble. 

In  France,  it  will  be  remembered,  nobilitv  did 
not  in  itself  imply  a  title.  Besides  its  titled  loaders, 
it  had  its  rank  and  file,  numerous  enough  to  form 
a  considerable  army.  Under  the  later  Bourhons, 
the  penniless  young  nobles  were,  in  fact,  eiii-oJled 
into  regiments,  turbulent,  difficult  to  control,  ohey- 
ing  officers  of  high  rank,  but  scorning  all  others. 
and  conspicuous  by  a  lioLy  and  impetuous  valor 
which  on  more  than  one  occasion  tinmed  tlio  tide 
of  victory.  The  genti/homme,  or  mititled  iiohle. 
had  a  i">tinctive  character  of  his  own,  u'allant. 
punctilious,  vain ;  skilled  in  social  and  sometimes 
in  literary  and  artistic  accomplishments,  but  usually 
ignornr^  of  most  things  except  the  handling  of  his 
rapiei  Tet  there  were  striking  exceptions:  and 
to  say  of  him,  as  has  been  said,  that  "-  be  knew 
notliing  but  how  to  get  himself  killed,"  is  hardly 
just  to  a  body  Avhich  has  produced  some  of  the 
best  Avriters  and  thinkers  of  France. 

Sometimes  thc^  ori^'in  of  his  nobilitv  was  lost  in 

1  In  1712,  the  enf:;ine('r  Catalogno  made  a  very  long  and  olid)()nitc  re 
port  on  tlie  condition  of  Canada,  witli  a  full  account  of  all  tlie  sciiiiiimiii 
estates.  Of  niiiety-i>ne  sei;j;niories.  fiefs,  and  baronies,  descril)eil  by  iiiiii. 
ten  belon};ed  to  niercliants,  twelve  to  husbandmen,  and  two  to  masters  ot 
small  river  craft.  The  rest  belonged  to  reliKJoiis  corporations,  niomlier- 
of  tlie  council,  judtjes,  officials  of  the  Crown,  widows,  and  diHcliar^'eii 
ollicers  or  their  sons. 


i&Co-irci>.| 


CANADLVN  NOBLESSE. 


2  00 


V'  was  lost  in 


the  mists  of  time  ;  somoiimes  he  owed  it  io  a  paie^it 
froni  ihe  king.  In  either  case,  the  Hne  of  demarca- 
tion between  him  and  the  classes  below  him  was 
perfectly  distinct;  and  in  this  lies  an  essentifd 
ditforcnce  between  the  French  noblesse  and  the 
English  gentry,  a  class  not  separated  from  others 
bv  a  definite  barrier.  The  French  noblesse,  unlike 
the  English  gentry,  constituted  a  caste. 

The  (jentUhomme  had  no  vocation  for  emigrating. 
He  liked  the  army  and  he  liked  the  court.  If  he 
conld  not  be  of  it,  it  was  something  to  live  in  its 
shadow.  The  life  of  a  l^ack woods  settler  had  no 
charm  for  him.  He  was  not  used  to  la])or ;  and 
he  could  not  trade,  at  least  in  retail,  w^ithout  be- 
comin^j:  liable  to  forfeit  his  nobility.  When  Talon 
came  to  Canada,  there  were  but  four  noble  families 
in  the  colony.'  Youno^  nobles  in  abundance  came 
out  with  Tracy;  but  they  went  home  Avith  iiim. 
Where,  then,  should  be  found  the  material  of  a 
Canadian   noblesse  f      First,   in    the 


regime  at. 


oi 


Cariyjnan,  of  which  most  of  the  officers  wer^^  "en- 
tlkhommes ;  secondly,  in  the  issue  of  pati  us  of 
nobility  to  a  few  of  the  more  prominent  colon ists. 
Tracy  asked  for  four  such  pat'^nts;  Talon  askcvl 
for  iivQ  more ;  ^  and  such  requests  were  repeated 
lit  intervals  by  succeeding  governors  and  intend- 
ants,  in  behalf  of  those  who  had  gained  their  favor 
by  merit  or  otherwise.     Mouey  smoothed  the  path 

^  Tiilon,  M^innlro  sur  V Rial  pn'rumt  rln  Canada,  1()()7.  Tlio  families  of 
TJeixMitijiiiy,  Tilly,  Poterie,  ami  Aillc-liout  appear  to  ))e  meant. 

-  Tracy's  request  was  in  behalf  of  Bourdon,  Boucher,  Auteail,  and 
Juciieroan.    Talon's  was  in  behalf  of  Godefroy,  Lo  Moyne,  Denis,  Amiol, 

and  Couillard. 


256 


CANADIAN  FEUDALISM. 


firt 


5* 


|*.J. 


[ioo;;-i7G3. 


to  advancement,  so  far  had  noblesse  already  fallen 
from  its  old  estate.  Thus  Jacques  Le  licr.  the 
merchant,  who  had  long  kept  a  shop  at  Montreal 
got  himself  made  a  gentleman  for  six  tliousjind 
livres.^ 

All  Canada  soon  became  infatuated  with  jiohlcsse  • 
and  country  and  town,  merchant  and  seignioi.  vied 
with  each  other  for  the  quality  of  geniilhonnne. 
If  they  could  not  get  it,  they  often  pretended  to 
have  it,  and  aped  its  ways  w4th  the  zeal  of  Mon- 
sieur Jourdain  himself.  ''  Everybody  here,"  writes 
the  intendant  Meides,  "  calls  himself  Enquire,  and 
ends  with  thinking  himself  a  gentleman."  Sueees- 
sive  intendants  repeat  this  complaint.  The  case 
was  worst  with  roturters  avIio  had  acquired  ^eiun- 
iories.  Thus  Noel  Langlois  was  a  good  carpenter 
till  he  ^^ecame  owner  of  a  seigniory,  on  wliieli  he 
grcAV  laz}^  and  affected  to  play  the  gentleman. 
The  real  gentUslioymnes,  as  well  as  the  spurious. 
had  their  full  share  of  otHcial  stricture.  The  gov- 
ernor Denonville  sj)eaks  of  them  thus :  '•  Several 
of  them  have  come  out  this  year  with  their  wi\es. 
who  are  very  nuicli  cast  down ;  but  they  play  the 
fine  lady,  nevertheless.  I  had  much  rather  see 
good  peasants ;  it  would  be  a  pleasure  to  me  to 
give  aid  to  such,  knowing,  as  I  should,  that  within 
two  A'ears  their  families  would  have  the  means  of 
living  at  ease  ;  for  it  is  certain  that  a  peasant  who 
can  and  will  work  is  avcU  oif  in  this  country,  while 
our  nobles  with  nothing  to  do  can  never  be  any 
thing  but  ))eggars.      Still  they  ought  not  to  be 

1  Failluii,  ]  Ve  de  Mademoiselle  Le  Ber,  325. 


1663-1763.] 


CANADIAN  NOBLESSE. 


257 


driven  off  or  abandoned.  The  question  is  how  to 
maintain  them."  ^ 

The  intendant  Duchesneaii  writes  to  the  same 
effect :  "  Many  of  our  gentUshommes,  officers,  and 
other  owners  of  seigniories,  lejid  what  in  France  is 
called  the  life  of  a  country  gentleman,  and  spend 
most  of  their  time  in  hunting  and  fishing.  As 
their  requirements  in  food  and  clothing  are  greater 
than  those  of  the  simple  hahitcoifs,  and  as  they  do 
not  devote  themselves  to  improving  their  land, 
they  mix  themselves  up  in  trade,  run  in  debt  on 
all  hands,  incite  their  young  hahllaids  to  range  the 
woods,  and  send  their  own  children  there  to  trade 
for  furs  in  the  Indian  villages  and  in  the  depths  of 
the  forest,  in  spite  of  the  prohibition  of  his  Majesty. 
Yet,  with  all  this,  they  are  in  miserable  poverty."  ^ 

Their  condition,  indeed,  was  often  deplorable. 
'•It  is  pitiful,"  says  the  intendant  Champigny,  ''  to 
see  their  children,  of  which  they  have  great  num- 
bers, passing  all  summer  with  nothing  on  them 
but  a  shirt,  and  their  wives  and  daughters  working 
in  the  fields."  ^  In  another  letter  he  asks  aid  from 
the  king  for  Rej^jentigny  Avith  his  thirteen  children, 
and  for  Tilly  w^ith  his  fifteen.  ^'  We  must  give 
them  some  corn  at  once,"  he  says,  "  or  they  will 
starve."  ■*  These  were  two  of  the  original  four 
noble  families  of  Canada.  The  family  of  Aillebout, 
another  of  the  four,  is  described  as  equally  desti- 
tute.    "  Pride  and  sloth,"  says  the  same  intendant, 

^  Lettre  de  Denouville  an  ^fl'nistl•c,  10  Nov.,  1686. 

2  Lettre  df  Dnchcsntnu  an  Afinistrr,  10  Xov.,  1679. 

3  Lettre  de  C/iampl(/>ii/  au  Ministre,  26  Aout,  1687. 
*  Ibid.,  6  Nov.,  1687. 

n 


mmmtm-matm^^ 


258 


CANADIAN  FEUDALISM. 


[1 063-1 7G3. 


"are  the  great  faults  of  the  people  of  Caiiadi.  and 
especially  of  the  nobles  and  those  who  pretciul  to 
be  such.  I  pray  you  grant  no  more  letters  of 
nobility,  unless  you  want  to  multiply  beggars." i 
The  governor  Denonville  is  still  more  emphatic : 
"Above  all  things,  monseigneur,  permit  me  to  say 
that  the  nobles  of  this  new  country  are  every  tliiiio; 
that  is  most  beggarly,  and  that  to  increase  their 
number  is  to  increase  the  number  of  do-nothings. 
A  new  country  requires  hard  workers,  who  Avill 
handle  the  axe  and  mattock.  The  sons  of  our 
councillors  are  no  more  industrious  than  the  nol)k's; 
and  their  only  resource  is  to  take  to  the  woods, 
trade  a  little  Avith  the  Indians,  and,  for  the  most 
part,  fall  into  the  disorders  of  which  I  have  had 
the  honor  to  inform  you.  I  shall  use  all  possible 
means  to  induce  them  to  engage  in  regular  com- 
merce ;  but  as  our  nobles  and  councillors  are  id! 
very  poor  and  weighed  down  with  debt,  they  could 
not  get  credit  for  a  single  crown  piece."  ^  "  Two 
days  ago,"  he  writes  in  another  letter,  "  Monsieur 
de  Saint-Ours,  a  gentleman  of  Dauphiny,  came  to 
me  to  ask  leave  to  go  back  to  France  in  search  of 
bread.  He  says  that  he  w411  put  his  ten  children 
into  the  charge  of  any  who  will  give  them  a  living. 
and  that  he  himself  will  go  into  the  army  again. 
His  wife  and  he  are  in  despair ;  and  yet  they  do 
what  they  can.  I  have  seen  two  of  his  girls  reaping 
grain  and  holding  the  plough.     Other  families  are 

1  M€moire  instructif  sur  le  Canada,  joint  a  la  tettre  de  M,  de  Champignnd^' 
10  Mai/,  1691. 

^  Letlre  de  Denonville  au  Ministre,  13  Nov.,  1685. 


1663-17G3.] 


CANADIAN  NOBLESSE. 


259 


M.deChamim^ 


in  the  same  condition.  Tliey  come  to  me  with  tears 
ill  their  eyes.  All  our  married  officers  are  beggars ; 
1111(1  I  entreat  yon  to  send  them  aid.  There  is  need 
tliiit  the  king  should  provide  sin)portfor  their  chil- 
divii.  or  else  they  will  be  tempted  to  go  over  to  the 
Eii'dish."  ^  Aiifjun  he  writes  that  the  sons  of  the 
oouiu'illor  D'Amonrs  have  been  arrested  as  coiireurs 
(k  hois,  or  outlaws  in  the  bnsh  ;  and  that  it"  the 
minister  does  not  do  something  to  help  them,  there 
is  danger  that  all  the  sons  of  the  noblesse,  real  or 
pretended,  will  turn  bandits,  since  they  have  no 
other  means  of  living. 

The  king,  dispenser  of  charity  for  all  Canada, 
came  promptly  to  the  rescue.  He  granted  an  alms 
of  a  hundred  crowns  to  each  family,  coupled  with 
a  Avarning  to  the  recipients  of  his  Ijounty  that 
"their  misery  proceeds  from  their  ambition  to  live 
as  persons  of  quality  and  without  laljor."  ^  At  the 
same  time,  the  minister  announced  that  no  more 
letters  of  nobility  would  be  granted  in  Canada ; 
arklino-,  '•  to  relieve  the  countrv  of  some  of  the 
children  of  those  who  are  really  noble,  I  send  you 
[the  (/ovenior)  six  commissions  of  Gardes  cle  la 
Marine,  and  recommend  you  to  take  care  not  to 
give  them  to  any  avIio  are  not  actually  genfUs- 
hommes."  The  Garde  de  la  Marine  answered  to 
the  midshipman  of  the  English  or  American  service. 
As  the  six  commissions  couhl  bring  little  relief  to 
the  crowd  of  needy  youths,  it  was  further  ordained 

'  fjt/r,-'  de  Deiionville  an  Ministre,  10  Nov.,  168G.  (Condensed  in  the 
translation.) 

■  Abstract  of  Denonville's  Letters,  and  of  the  Minister's  Answers,  in 
.V.  Y.  Colonial  Docs.,  IX.  317,  318. 


260 


CANADIAN  FEUDALISM. 


[1003-1708. 


m 


■tf" 


♦;■; 


4*. 


I 


that  sons  of  nojjles  or  persons  living  as  sueli  iliould 
be  enrolled  into  companies  at  eight  sous  a  (l;i\-  for 
those  who  should  best  conduct  themselves,  niid  six 
sous  a  day  for  the  others.  Nobles  in  Canada  wcic 
also  permitted  to  trade,  even  at  retail,  ^viihuut 
derouatin**:  from  their  rank.^ 

They  liad  already  assumed  this  right,  without 
waiting  for  the  royal  license;  but  thus  far  ''  had 
profited  them  little.  The  (jentUhoyiime  was  not  a 
good  shopkeeper,  nor,  as  a  rule,  was  the  shop- 
keeper's vocation  very  lucrative  in  Canada.  Thu 
domestic  trade  of  the  colony  was  small ;  and  all 
trade  was  exposed  to  such  vicissitudes  from  the 
intervention  of  intendants,  ministers,  and  councils. 
that  at  one  time  it  was  almost  banished.  At  best. 
it  was  carried  on  under  conditions  auspicious  to  a 
favored  few  and  withering  to  the  rest.  Even  v*  lieu 
most  willing  to  work,  the  position  of  the  (jcnijl- 
homme  was  a  painful  one.  Unless  he  could  gain 
a  post  under  the  Crown,  which  was  rarely  the  case. 
he  w\as  as  complete  a  political  cipher  as  the 
meanest  habitant.  His  rents  were  practically 
nothing,  and  he  had  no  capital  to  improve  his 
seigniorial  estate.  By  a  peasant's  work  he  could 
gain  a  peasant's  living,  and  this  was  all.  The 
prospect  w^as  not  inspiring.  His  long  initiation  of 
misery  was  the  natural  result  of  his  position  ami 
surroundings  ;  and  it  is  no  matter  of  wonder  that 
he  threw  himself  mto  the  only  field  of  action 
which  in  time  of  peace  was  open  to  him.  It  ^vas 
trade,  but  trade  seasoned  by  adventure  and  en- 

1  Lettre  de  Mettles  au  Minislre,  1685. 


lf)G3-1703.J 


CANADIAN  NOBLESSE. 


261 


nobled  by  danger;  clofiant  of  edict  and  ordinance, 
outlawed,  conducted  in  arms  among  forests  and 
savages,  —  in  short,  it  was  the  Western  fur  tr.'ide. 
The  tyro  was  likely  to  fail  in  it  at  iirst,  but  time 
ami  experience  formed  him  to  the  work.  On  the 
Givat  Lakes,  in  the  wastes  of  the  Northwest,  on 
the  Mississippi  and  the  plains  beyond,  we  find  the 
roving  gentilhomme,  chief  of  a  gang  of  bush- 
rangers, often  his  own  hah  If  ants  ;  sometimes  pro- 
scribed by  the  government,  sometimes  leagued  in 
contraband  traffic  with  its  highest  othcials,  a  hardy 
viiiette  of  civilization,  ti'acing  imknown  streams, 
piercing  unknown  forests,  trading,  lighting,  nego- 
tiating, and  building  forts.  Again  we  find  him  on 
the  shores  of  Acadia  or  Maine,  surrounded  by 
Indian  retainers,  a  menace  and  a  terror  to  the 
nei'diborin^i^  Eno-lish  colonist.  Saint-Castin,  I)u 
Lhut,  La  Durantaye,  La  Salle,  La  Motte-Cadillac, 
Iherville,  Bienville,  La  Verendrj^e,  are  names  that 
stand  conspicuous  on  the  page  of  half -savage 
romance  that  refreshes  the  hard  and  practical 
ainials  of  American  colonization.  But  a  more  sub- 
stantial debt  is  due  to  their  memory.  It  was  they, 
and  such  as  they,  who  discovered  the  Ohio,  ex- 
plored the  Mississippi  to  its  mouth,  discovered  the 
Kooky  Mountains,  and  founded  Detroit,  St.  Louis, 
and  New  Orleans. 

Even  in  his  earliest  day,  the  gentilhomme  was 
not  always  in  the  evil  plight  where  we  have  found 
him.  There  were  a  few  exceptions  to  the  general 
misery,  and  the  chief  among  them  is  that  of  the 
Le  Moynes  of  Montreal.     Charles  Le  Moyne,  son 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


1.0 


I.I 


1.25 


ISO 


■  36 


■21    1 2.5 
1^    12.2 


1.4 


2.0 


1.6 


.<» 


V 


<^ 


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Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  NY.  14580 

(716)  872-4S03 


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^^ 


V 


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6^ 


262 


CANADIAN  FEUDALISM. 


[iGuo-lTi',:;. 


''Hi 


of  an  innkeeper  of  Dieppe  and  founder  of  a  faniilv 
the  most  truly  eminent  in  Canada,  was  a  man  of 
sterling  qualities  who  had  been  long  enougu  in  the 
colony  to  learn  how  to  live  there.^  Others  learned 
the  same  lesson  at  a  later  day,  adapted  themselves 
to  soil  and  situation,  took  root,  grew,  and  heeanie 
more  Canadian  than  French.  As  population  in- 
creased, their  seigniories  began  to  yield  appreciable 
returns,  and  their  reserved  domains  became  wortli 
cultivating.  A  future  dawned  upon  them;  iliey 
saw  in  hope  their  names,  their  seigniorial  estates. 
their  manor-houses,  their  tenantry,  passing  to  their 
children  and  their  children's  children.  The  beu- 
gared  noble  of  the  early  time  became  a  stnrdy 
country  gentleman  ;  ])0<>r,  but  not  wretched  ;  i<ino- 
rant  of  books,  except  possibly  a  few  scra[)s  of 
rusty  Latin  picked  up  in  a  Jesuit  school ;  liardv  as 
the  hardiest  woodsman,  yet  never  forgetting  his 
quality  of  (jentUhomme ;  scrupulously  wearini^-  its 
badge,  the  sword,  and  copying  as  well  as  he  could 
the  fashions  of  the  court,  which  glowed  on  his 
vision  across  the  .^ea  in  all  the  etfulgence  of  W'r- 
sailles,  and  beamed  with  reflected  ray  from  the 
chateau  of  Quebec.  He  was  at  home  amonu  lii^ 
tenants,  at  home  among  the  Indians,  and  never 
more  at  home  than  when,  a  gun  in  his  hand  and  ;i 
crucifix  on  his  breast,  he  took  the  war-path  with  ;i 

'  Bertliclot,  proprietor  of  flie  cnvitif  of  St.  Laurent,  and  Kdhiiii'iiu,  of 
the  barrii_)  of  rortneuf,  may  also  be  mentioned  as  exceptionally  pinv 
jHTous.  '.  <f  tlio  younger  ("liarles  Le  Moyne,  afterwards  Haroii  'le  Ln"- 
pueuii,  Frontenac  tlie  jjovcrnor  says,  "son  fort  et  sa  niai»tiii  iiouj 
donnent  une  idoc  des  chatcanx  do  France  fortiflez.'"  Ills  fort  was  uf 
Stone  and  tlanl<ed  witli  four  towers.  It  was  nearly  opposite  Munlieal,  on 
the  south  shore. 


1663-1763.] 


CANADIAN  NOBLESSE. 


263 


crow  of  painted  savages  and  Frenchmen  almost  a^ 
wild,  and  pounced  like  a  lynx  from  the  forest  on 
Homo  lonely  farm  or  outlying  hamlet  of  New 
England.  How  New  Englan<l  hated  him.  let  her 
ivcords  tell.  The  reddest  hlood  streak--^  on  her  old 
annals  mark  the  track  of  the  Canadian  (jnntll- 
homme. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

1GG3-17G3. 
THE  RULERS  OF   CANADA. 

Natuhe  of  the  Government.  —  The  Governor.  —  The  Coi'ntil — 
Courts  and  JriKiEs.  —  The  Intendant.  —  IIis  (iiukvani  i  s. — 
Stron(j  Govkhnment.  —  Sedition  and  Blasimikmy.  —  Kov.u, 
Bountv.  —  DeI'Ects  and  Ahl'ses. 


iSSS 


'Ik 

m 
n 

ViL 
St 


f 


The  government  of  Canada  was  formed  111  its 
chief  features  after  the  government  of  a  Ficncli 
province.  Throughout  France  the  past  and  t!ie 
present  stood  side  by  side.  The  kingdom  had  a 
double  administration ;  or  rather,  the  shadow  ni 
the  old  administration  and  the  substance  ot"  the 
new.  The  government  of  provinces  had  long 
been  held  ])y  the  high  nobles,  often  kindred  to  the 
Crown ;  and  hence,  in  former  times,  great  ])ri'ils 
had  arisen,  amounting  during  the  civil  wars  to  the 
danger  of  disiuemberment.  The  high  nol)lcs  wciv 
still  governors  of  j)rovinces ;  but  here,  as  else- 
where, they  had  ceased  to  be  dangerous.  Titles. 
honors,  and  ceremonial  they  had  in  abundance; 
but  they  were  deprived  of  real  power.  Close 
beside  them  was  the  royal  intendant,  an  obscure 
figure,  lost  amid  the  vainglories  of  the  feiidnl 
sunset,  but  in  the  name  of  the  king  holding  the 


I6<i3-1703.] 


GOVKRNOR  AND   IXTENDANT. 


265 


reins  of  govorniiiciit ;  (i  chock  and  a  spy  on  his 
(r()rp;('()iis  colleague.  He  was  the  king's  agent :  of 
iiKKlcst  l)irth,  springing  from  the  legal  class ;  owing 
his  present  to  the  king,  and  dependent  on  him  for 
his  future ;  learned  in  the  law  and  trained  to  ad- 
ministration. It  was  by  such  instruments  that  the 
powerful  centralization  of  the  monarchy  enforced 
itself  throughout  the  kingdom,  and,  penetrating 
hi'iicath  the  crust  of  old  prescriptions,  supplanted 
without  seeming  to  supplant  them.  The  courtier 
noble  looked  down  in  the  pride  of  raidv  on  the  busy 
iiiiiu  in  ])lack  at  his  side  ;  but  this  man  in  bl.ick,  with 
the  troop  of  olHcials  at  his  beck,  controlled  finance, 
the  royal  courts,  public  \vorks,  and  all  the  admin- 
istrative business  of  the  province. 

The  governor-general  and  the  intendant  of 
Canada  answered  to  those  of  a  French  province. 
The  governor,  excepting  in  the  earliest  period  of 
the  colony,  was  a  military  noble ;  in  most  cases 
bearing  a  title  and  sometimes  of  high  rank.  The 
intendant,  as  in  France,  was  usu.ally  di-awn  fi'om 
the  (/ens  de  robe,  or  legal  class. ^  The  mutuid  rela- 
tions of  the  two  officers  were  modified  by  the 
rireunistances  about  them.  The  governor  was 
superior  in  rank  to  the  intendant ;  he  connnanded 
the  troops,  conducted  relations  with  foreign  colo- 
nies and  Indian  tribes,  and  took  precedence  on  all 
occasions  of  ceremony.     Unlike  a  provincial  gov- 


'  The  governor  was  styled  in  his  commission,  Gonvcrneur  et  Lieulonnnt- 
Gdip'rnI  <n  Canada,  Acadie,  Isl"  dc  Trrmn  m-f,  d  aittirs  pdi/s  dr  l<i  /''raiice 
Sfi>i(nfii(iii<de;  and  the  intendant,  fnfoiddiil  di  In  Justin ,  Pijlin,  il  Fiuniicfis 
tn  Ciuiuda,  Acadie,  2'erieneuve,  d  autrcs  jxiijs  dt  la  France  Septeiitrionale. 


2G6 


THE  RULKRS   OF  CANADA. 


li'V>'.-i:o3. 


■tl- 


If 


m 


ernor  in  France,  lie  luid  great  and  sul)st!iiitijil 
power.  The  king  and  the  minister,  liis  sole 
masters,  were  a  thonsand  leagues  distant,  mi-l  h^ 
controlled  the  whole  military  force.  If  lie  jilm^cd 
his  position,  there  was  no  remedy  l)ut  in  appeal  to 
the  court,  which  alone  could  hold  him  in  clicck. 
There  were  local  governors  at  Montrejd  and  'rincc 
Rivers;  but  their  power  was  carefully  cui-hed.  and 
they  were  forbidden  to  fine  or  imprison  any  pcisou 
without  authority  from  (^uebec.^ 

The  intendant  was  virtually  a  spy  on  tlie  gov- 
ernor-general, of  Avliose  proceedings  and  ol"  vwvy 
thing  else  that  took  place  he  w'  ?  required  to  make 
report.  Every  year  he  w^rote  to  the  minister  of 
state,  one,  two,  three,  or  four  letters,  often  foity  or 
fifty  pages  long,  filled  with  the  secrets  of  the  colony, 
political  and  personal,  great  and  small,  set  forth  with 
a  minuteness  often  interesting,  often  instructive, 
and  often  excessively  tedious.-  The  governor,  too, 
wrote  letters  of  pitiless  length ;  and  each  of  the 
colleagues  was  jealous  of  the  letters  of  the  other. 
In  truth,  their  relations  to  each  other  were  so  criti- 
cal, and  ])erfect  harmony  so  rare,  that  they  might 
almost  be  described  as  natural  enemies.  The 
court,  it  is  certain,  did  not  desire  their  ]K'rlect 
accord;  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  did  it  wish  them 
to  quarrel :  it  aimed  to  keep  them  on  such  terms 


1  Tlie  Sulpitiiin  seifiniors  of  Montreal  claimed  the  ritilit  of  appnintiiif; 
their  own  local  governor.  'Tliis  was  denied  by  tlie  court,  and  tlio  e.\- 
cellent  Sulpitian  f^overnor,  Maisonneuve,  was  removed  by  I)e  Tracy,  to 
die  in  patient  ob.scurity  at  Paris.  Some  concessions  were  afterwards 
made  in  favor  of  the  Sulpitian  claims. 

'-  I  have  carefully  read  about  two  thousand  pagc^  of  these  letters. 


1633-1 7o3.] 


THE   COUNCIL. 


267 


these  letters, 


that,  without  (leran«ii)ig  the  iiiaohinory  of  jidiuin- 
istration,  each  should  bo  a  chock  on  tho  othor.^ 

The  governor,  tho  intoiKhint,  and  tho  supioino 
council  or  court,  were  tibsjolute  masters  of  Canada 
under  the  pleasure  of  the  king.  Legislative,  judi- 
cial, and  executive  ])ower,  all  centred  in  them. 
]\v  liavo  seen  already  the  very  unj)romising  be- 
ginniiigs  of  the  supreme  council.  It  had  consisted 
at  first  of  the  governor,  the  bishop,  and  live  coun- 
cillors chosen  by  them.  The  intendant  was  soon 
added  to  form  the  ruling  triumvirate ;  but  the 
appointment  of  the  coimcillors,  the  occasion  of  so 
many  quarrels,  was  afterwards  exorcised  )jy  the 
king  himself.^  Even  the  name  of  the  council 
underwent  a  change  in  the  interest  of  his  autoc- 
racy, and  he  connnjuided  that  it  should  no  longer 
be  called  the  Supreme^  but  only  the  Superior 
Council.  The  same  change  had  just  been  im[)osed 
on  all  the  high  tribunals  of  France.^  Under  the 
shadow  of  the  fleur-de-Us,  the  king  alone  was  to 
be  supreme. 

hi  1675,  the  nund)er  of  councillors  was  increased 
to  seven,  and  in  1703  it  Avas  again  increased  to 
twelve ;  but  the  character  of  the  council  or  court 

'  The  governor  and  intendant  made  frequent  appeals  to  the  court  to 
ftttle  questions  arising  between  tliein.  Several  of  tliese  appeals  are  j)re- 
Hrveii,  The  king  wrote  replies  on  the  margin  of  tlie  paper,  but  tiiey 
«ere  usually  too  curt  and  general  to  satisfy  eitiier  party. 

■  Ih'rianttion  du  Roi  dn  Hjiue  .liiiu,  \~(V.\.  Appointments  were  made  by 
tliekinir  many  years  earlier.  As  tiiey  were  always  made  on  the  reeom- 
iiitiuliition  of  tiie  governor  and  intendant,  the  practical  eflect  of  the  change 
was  merely  to  exclude  the  bishop  from  a  share  in  them.  The  West 
Iiiiiia  Company  made  the  nominations  during  the  len  years  of  its  as- 
ceiidiincy. 

'^  L'heruel,  Admiiu'stnttion  Momirrhiqiie  en  France,  II.  100. 


2G8 


TIIK   HULEUS  OF  CANADA. 


[ltW:}-i:03. 


£!•< 


4 


remained  tlio  same.  It  issued  decrees  for  the  civil, 
commercial,  and  financial  government  of  the  col- 
ony, and  gave  judgment  in  civil  and  criminal  ciiums 
according  to  the  royal  ordinances  and  the  Coiihinic 
de  Parts.  It  exercised  also  the  function  of  ivl:-- 
isti'ation  borrowed  from  the  parliament  of  l*;iris. 
That  hody,  it  will  he  rememl)ered,  had  no  {innlonv 
whatever  with  the  English  parliament.  Its  ordi- 
njiry  functions  were  not  legislative,  but  judicial ; 
and  it  was  comi)osed  of  iudu:es  hereditary  midcr 
certain  conditions.  Nevertheless,  it  had  loiiii'  acted 
as  a  check  on  the  royal  power  throngh  its  right  of 
registration.  No  royal  edict  had  the  force  of  law- 
till  entered  upon  its  books,  and  this  custom  (lad 
so  deep  a  root  in  the  monarchicjd  constitution  of 
France,  that  even  Louis  XIV.,  in  the  flush  of  his 
power,  did  not  jittempt  to  a])olisli  it.  He  did  bet icr ; 
he  ordered  his  decrees  to  be  registered,  and  the 
hnml)led  parliament  -(u'Hnissively  obeved.  In  like 
manner  all  edicts,  ordijiances,  or  declarations  rc- 
latinu:  to  Canada  were  entered  on  the  registers  of 
the  superior  council  at  Quebec.  The  order  of  reg- 
istration was  commonly  affixed  to  the  edict  or  other 
mandate,  and  nobody  dreamed  of  disobeying  it.- 

The  council  or  court  had  its  attornev-gonoral. 
who  heard  complaints  and  brought  them  before 
the  tribunal  if  he  thought  necessjiry ;  its  secre- 
tary, who  ke])t  its  registers,  and  its  /i?.'/.s'.svVy.s'  or 
attendant  officers.    It  sat  once  a  week ;  and,  though 


•  Mnny  froneral  oflicts  relating  to  tlie  whole  kins^doin  are  aliJO  lejiis- 
tercd  on  the  books  of  the  council,  but  the  practice  in  this  respect  wil*  by 
no  means  uniform. 


ii 


16G8-1T03.] 


INFERIOR  COURTS. 


269 


it  was  the  highest  court  of  appeal,  it  exercised  at 
lirst  original  jurisdiction  in  very  trivial  cases. ^  It 
was  empowered  to  establish  suljoi'dinate  courts  or 
judLics  throughout  the  colony.  Besides  these  there 
was  a  judge  appointed  hy  the  king  tor  each  oi"  the 
three  districts  into  which  Canada  was  divided,  those 
of  (^lebec,  Three  Rivers,  and  Montreal.  'J'o  each 
of  the  three  royal  judges  were  joined  a  clei'k  and 
an  attorney-general  under  the  su])ei  N'i.'-jion  and  con- 
trol of  the  attorney-general  of  the  superior  court,  to 
which  tribunal  appeal  lay  Iroui  all  the  subordinate 
jurisdictions.  The  jurisdiction  of  the  seigniors  within 
their  own  limits  has  ali'eady  been  mentioned.  They 
were  entitled  by  the  lerms  of  their  grants  to  the  ex- 
3rcise  of  "^^  high,  middle,  and  low  justice;  "  but  most 
of  them  were  practically  restricted  to  the  last  of 
the  three,  that  is,  to  petty  disputes  between  the 
kih'dans,  involving  not  more  than  sixty  sous,  or 
offences  for  which  the  line  did  not  exceed  ten  sous.- 
Thiis  limited,  their  judgments  were  often  useful 
ill  saving  time,  trouble,  and  money  to  the  (hsjui- 
tants.  The  corporate  seigniors  of  Montreal  long 
(ontiiuied  to  hold  a  feudal  court  in  form,  with  at- 
torney-general, clerk,  and  hius.sier ;  but  very  few 
other  seigniors  were  in  a  condition  to  imitate  them. 
A(hled  to  all  these  tribunals  was  the  bisho])'s  court 
at  (Quebec  to  try  causes  held  to  be  within  the  jjrov- 
iiice  of  the  church. 

^  See  tlie  Ref/istres  du  Conscil  Snnii-ienr,  preserved  at  Qiu'bec.  Re- 
Iwet'i!  lOii:?  und  l<)7o  are  a  multitude  of  jud<;iii(.'iits  on  matters  great  and 
small;  I'roin  murder,  rape,  and  iid'autifide.  down  to  petty  nuisances,  mis- 
behiiviui  of  servants,  and  disputes  ahout  the  price  of  a  sow. 

■  Doutre  et  Lareau,  IJisluire  Ju  /Jivit  Canadiin,  I'ju. 


270 


THE  RULERS  OF   CANADA. 


[ir.r;;;-i7r„3. 


The  ofKoo  of  judirc  in  Canarla  was  no  sinccinc. 
The  people  were  of  a  litigious  rlisposition,  pintlv 
from  their  Norman  l)lood,  parti y  i)erliaps  from  the 
idleness  of  the  long  and  tedious  wiutei",  which  nMve 
lull  leisure  for  gossip  juid  quarrel, jnid  ])art]\  Irom 
the  very  imperfect  maimer  in  which  titles  hiul  hccn 
drjiwn  and  the  houndaries  of  grants  marked  out, 
whence  ensued  dis})utes  without  end  hetwcuii 
nei<'hl)or  and  neiy^hbor. 

"  I  will  not  say,"  writes  the  satirical  La  nont.iii, 
"  that  Justice  is  more  chaste  and  disinterested  here 
than  in  France ;  but,  at  least,  if  she  is  sold,  she  is 
sold  cheaper.  We  do  not  ])ass  through  the  cltiiclus 
of  advocates,  the  talons  of  attorneys,  and  the  ciaws 
of  clerks.  These  vermin  do  not  infest  Cauadn  vet. 
Everybody  pleads  his  own  cause.  Our  Themis  is 
promj)t,  and  she  does  not  bristle  with  fees,  costs,  and 
charges.  The  judges  have  only  four  lumdred  fr.incs 
a  year,  a  great  temptiition  to  look  for  law  in  the 
bottom  of  the  suitor's  purse.  Four  hundred  francs! 
Not  enough  to  buy  a  ctip  and  gown,  so  these  gentry 
never  wear  them."  ^ 

Thns  far  La  Hontan.  Now  let  us  hear  the  kiiiu* 
himself.  '^  The  greatest  disorder  which  has  hith- 
erto existed  in  Canada,"  writes  Lonis  XI \'.  to 
the  intendant  Meules,  "  has  come  from  the  small 
degree  of  liberty  Avhich  the  officers  of  justice  have 
had  in  the  di.^charge  of  their  duties,  by  reason  of 
the  violence  to  which  they  have  been  subject cd, 
and  the  part  they  have  been  obliged  to  take  in  the 

1  La  Hontan,  I.  21  (od.  1705).  In  some  editions,  the  above  is  ex- 
pressed in  ditt'erent  language. 


lCr,3-17^'3.1 


THE   COUNCILLORS. 


271 


continual  qnarrols  betwoon  tlio  governor  nnd  the 
intciidiint ;  insoiniich  that  justice  liaviiig  hi'iMi  jul- 
iiiinisterod  by  cabal  and  animosity,  the  inhabitants 
liMVc  hitherto  been  far  from  the  tranijuillity  and 
rc'[)Os('  which  cannot  be  found  in  a  place  where 
cvcrvbody  is  compelled  to  tidve  side  with  one 
party  or  another."^ 

Nevertheless,  on  ordinary  local  questions  be- 
tween the  hahlfaufs,  justice  seems  to  have  been 
administered  on  the  whole  fjurly ;  and  judges  of 
all  grades  often  interposed  in  their  personal  ca- 
pacity to  bring  parties  to  an  agreement  without  a 
trial.  From  head  to  foot,  the  government  kept  its 
attitude   of  paterrity. 

Bevond  and  above  all  tlie  re<2:ular  tribunals,  be- 
yond  and  above  the  council  itself,  was  the  inde- 
pendent jurisdiction  lodged  in  the  person  of  the 
king's  man,  the  intendant.  His  commission  em- 
powered him,  if  he  saw  fit,  to  call  any  cause  what- 
ever before  himself  for  judgment;  and  he  judged 
exclusively  the  cases  wdiich  concerned  the  king, 
and  those  involving  the  relations  of  seignior  and 
vassal. ^  He  appointed  subordinate  judges,  from 
whom  there  was  appeal  to  him ;  but  from  his 
decisions,  as  well  as  from  those  of  the  superior 
council,  there  was  no  appeal  but  to  the  king  in  his 
council  of  state. 

On  any  Monday  morning  one  would  have  found 
the  superior  council  in  session  in  the  antechamber 


the  above  is  ex- 


m. 


'  Instrudioti  du  Roi/  pour  le  Sieur  de  Meitles,  1682. 

■^  Sue  the  commissions  of  various  intendants,  in  Edits  et  Ordonnances, 


272 


THE    HULEHS   OE    CANADA. 


1 1  >■'':{- 1703. 


"1 


of  the  governor's  apartineut,  at  the  (JliAtoiiii  St. 
Ijoiiis.  The  iiieniljers  sat  at  a  round  table.  Ai  the 
liead  was  the  governor,  with  the  bishop  on  bis  riiiht. 
and  the  intendjint  on  his  k'tt.  The  councillnis  ,sit 
in  the  order  of  their  a])pointnient,  and  tlie  ;itt()i-- 
ney-genernl  also  liad  his  ])laee  at  the  board.  As 
La  llontan  says,  they  were  not  in  judicial  lolics. 
but  in  their  ordinary  (h*ess,  and  all  but  tlie  lii-liop 
wore  swords.^  The  want  of  the  caj)  juid  uowii 
greatly  disturbed  the  intendant  Monies,  and  he  hens 
the  minister  to  consider  how  ini])()rtant  it  is  that 
the  councillors,  in  order  to  ins])ire  res[)eet,  should 
appear  in  public  in  long  black  robes,  which  on 
occasions  of  ceremony  they  should  exchanui  lor 
robes  of  red.  He  thinks  that  the  j)rincipal  persons 
of  the  colony  Avould  thus  be  induced  lo  train  up 
their  children  to  so  envialde  a  dignity;  ••  and."  he 
concludes,  "  as  none  of  the  councillors  can  attord 
to  buy  red  robes,  I  hope  that  the  king  will  vouch- 
safe to  send  out  nine  such.  As  for  the  black  roljus, 
they  can  furnish  those  themselves." "  The  kinu' 
did  not  respond,  and  the  nine  robes  never  anivcd. 
The  official  dignity  of  the  council  was  soiiietinics 
exposed  to  b'ials  against  which  even  red  gowns 
might  have  proved  an  insufficient  protection.  The 
same  intendant  urges  that  the  tribunal  ouulit  to  he 

CD  i— ' 

provided  innnediately  with  a  house  of  its  own. 
"  It  is  not  decent,"  he  says,  ''  that  it  should  sit 
in  the  governor's  antechamber  any  longer.  His 
guards  and  valets  make  such  a  noise,  that  we  can- 

1  Compare  La  Potorie,  T.  200,  and  La  Tour,  Vie  de  Laval,  Liv.  VII- 

2  Meules  au  Minislre,  28  Stpt.,  1G85. 


Cliatoaii  St. 

ion  Ills  iii:iit. 
nmcillors  sit 

1(1  the  iiltoi'- 
'  hoiU'd.  As 
idiciiil  lohcs. 
t  tlic  lii>li()|) 
|)  ;ni(l  li'owii 
i,  aiul  he  Ix'i^s 
iiiit  it  is  that 
s|)C'ct.  should 
js,  which  oil 
ixcliMimi  tor 
cipal  persons 
1  lo  Iraiii  ii|) 
••  and."  he 
's  can  iil't'onl 
will  voiicli- 
Mack  rohi's. 
The  kinji- 
L'ver  arrived. 

[IS  SOlllCtillK'S 

I  rod  gowns 
ection.  The 
1  ouiidit  to  be 
of  its  own. 
it  should  sit 
longer.  His 
that  wo  am- 

Laval,  Liv.  VII. 


li)C3-17''3J 


THK   COUNCILLORS. 


273 


not  hear  each  other  speak.  1  have  continually  to 
tell  thcni  to  keep  (juiet,  which  cau.ses  them  to 
iii;ike  a  thousand  jokes  at  the  councilloi-s  as  thi'v 
pa.-is  ill  Jind  out."'  As  the  governor  and  the 
council  were  often  on  ill  terms,  the  ollicial  head  of 
tlio  colony  could  not  always  he  trusted  to  kec])  his 
iittendants  on  their  good  hehavior.  The  minister 
listened  to  the  complaint  of  Meules,  and  adopted 
liis  siingestion  that  the  <!:ovei'nnient  should  l)uv  the 
old  brewery  of  Talon,  a  large  structure  of  mingled 
limber  and  masonry  on  the  hanks  of  the  8t. 
('liiuies.  It  was  at  an  easy  distance  from  the 
iliiiteau;  passing  the  Hotel  Dieu  and  descending 
the  rock,  one  reached  it  by  a  walk  of  a  few 
iiiinntes.  It  was  accordingly  repaired,  partly 
ivbnilt,  and  fitted  up  to  serve  the  double  purpose 
of  a  lodging  for  the  intendant  and  a  court-house. 
Henceforth  the  transformed  brewery  was  known 
lis  the  Palace  of  the  Intendant,  or  tlie  Palace  of 
Justice ;  and  here  the  council  and  inferior  courts 
long  continued  to  hold  their  sessions. 

Some  of  these  inferior  courts  appear  to  have 
needed  a  lodging  quite  as  much  as  the  council. 
The  watchful  Meides  informs  the  minister  that  the 
rovid  judge  for  the  district  of  Quebec  was  accus- 
tomed in  winter,  with  a  view  to  saving  fuel,  to 
hear  causes  and  pronounce  judgment  by  his  own 
lireside,  in  the  midst  of  his  children,  whose  gambols 
disturbed  the  even  distribution  of  justice.^ 

The  superior  council  w^as  not  a  very  harmonious 


1  Meules  au  Minislre,  12  Nov.,  1G84. 

18 


2  Ibid. 


mw 


V 


274 


THE  KULEllS  OF   CANADA. 


[i'''^;vi7Gj 


body.  As  its  three  chiefs,  the  man  of  tlio  sword. 
the  man  of  the  church,  aiul  tlie  man  of  tlic  l.iw. 
were  often  at  variance,  the  councillors  atinchefl 
themselves  to  one  party  or  the  other,  and  lioi  dis- 
putes  sometimes  ensued.  The  intendant.  tlioiiirji 
but  third  in  rank,  presided  at  the  sessions,  took 
votes,  pronounced  judgment,  sig'ued  ])iipcrs.  nnd 
called  special  meetings.  This  matter  of  tlic  ] resi- 
dency was  for  some  time  a  soiu'ce  of  contention 
between  him  and  tlie  governor,  till  the  (|U('siioa 
was  set   at  rest  bv  a  decree  of  the  kinir. 

The  intendants  in  their  reports  to  the  ininlstcr 
do  not  paint  the  council  in  flattering  colors.  One 
of  them  complains  that  the  councillors,  being  Imsv 
with  their  farms,  neglect  their  ofiicial  duties. 
Another  says  that  they  are  all  more  or  loss  in 
trade.  A  third  calls  them  uneducated  persons  of 
slight  account,  allied  to  the  chief  families  and  rliicf 
merchants  in  Canada,  in  who.^^e  interest  the\-  make 
laws ;  Jind  he  adds  that,  as  a  year  and  a  h.'df  or 
even  two  years  nsually  elapse  before  the  aiiswer 
to  a  complaint  is  received  from  France,  tluy  lake 
advantao'e  of  this  longc  interval  to  the  iniin'\'  of 
the  kinii:'s  service.^  These  and  other  similar 
charji'es  betrav  the  continual  friction  between  the 
several  branches  of  the  government. 

Tlie  councillors  were  rarelv  chauii-ed,  and  tliev 
nsuallv  held  office  for  life.  In  a  few  cases  the 
king  granted  to  the  son  of  a  councillor  yet  living 
the  right  of  succeeding  his  father  when  the  charge 

1  Mcuks  nu  Ministre,  12  Nov,,  1684. 


1663-1 76S.] 


THE   INTENDANT. 


275 


slinuld  become  vacant.^  It  was  a  post  of  lionor 
and  not  of  profit,  at  least  of  direct  profit.  The 
saliirics  were  very  small,  and  coupled  with  a  pro- 
liihition  to  receive    oes. 

JiulsxiiiQC  solelv  l)v  the  terms  of  his  commission, 
the  intcndant  was  the  riillnu;  power  in  tlie  colony. 
lie  controlled  all  expenditure  of  public  money, 
and  not  only  presided  at  the  council  but  was 
Hotlicd  in  his  own  person  with  inde])endent  legis- 
lative as  well  as  judicial  power.  Ife  was  author- 
ized to  issue  ordinances  having  the  force  of  law 
whenever  he  thou<rht  necessarv,  and,  in  the  words 
ot  his  commission,  '*  to  order  everv  thinii:  as  he 
shall  see  just  and  proper."^  He  was  directed  to 
he  present  at  councils  of  war,  though  war  was  the 
special  province  of  his  colleague,  and  to  protect 
soldiers  and  all  others  from  oiKcial  extortion  and 
ahuse ;  that  is,  to  protect  them  from  the  governor. 
Yet  there  were  practical  dilficulties  in  the  way  of 
his  ai)parent  power.  The  king,  his  master,  was 
far  {iway  ;  but  official  jealousy  was  busy  around 
him.  and  his  patience  w^as  sometimes  put  to  the 
Itioof.  Thus  the  royal  judge  of  Quebec  had  fallen 
into  irregularities.  "  I  can  do  nothing  with  him," 
writes  the  intendant ;  "^^  he  keeps  on  good  terms 
with  the  governor  and  council  and  sets  me  at 
nauu'ht."  The  governor  had.  as  he  thought,  treated 
him  amiss.     "  You  have  told  me,"  he  writes  to  the 


'  A  son  (J*"  Amours  was  njuiiod  in  liis  father's  lifotiine  to  succctvl  liiin, 
its  wns  also  a  son  of  the  iittonu'v-jit'iicral  Aiitcuil.  Tlicro  arc  si'veral 
otiier  (Uses.  A  son  of  Tiliy,  to  whom  the  ri^ilit  of  siicceeiliiifr  his  father 
liadlHMi\  trranteil.  asks  ie.'ive  to  -ell  it  to  the  nu'rcl-.ant  La  Cliesnaye. 

■  Cuintuissions  of  Bouteroue,  Duchesneuu,  Meules,  etc. 


276 


THE  RULERS   OF   CANADA. 


ll'i'-i-1703. 


minister,  **  to  bear  every  thing  from  him  and  report 
to  you ; "  and  he  proceeds  to  recount  his  grievanros. 
Again,  ''  the  attorney-general  is  bold  to  insolence 
and  needs  to  be  repressed.  The  king's  inteiposi- 
tion  is  necessary."  He  m^)destly  adds  tluit  tlie  in- 
tendant  is  the  only  man  in  Canada  whom  his  Majestv 
can  trust,  and  that  he  ought  to  have  more  power.' 
These  were  far  from  being  his  only  troubles. 
The  enormous  powers  with  which  his  commission 
clothed  him  were  sometimes  retrenched  bv  contra- 
dictory  instructions  from  the  king ;  ^  for  this  o-ov- 
ernment,  not  of  laws  but  of  arbitrary  will,  is  miuked 
by  frequent  inconsistencies.  When  he  quarrelled 
with  the  governor,  and  the  governor  chnneed  to 
have  strong  friends  at  court,  his  position  heeanie 
truly  pitiable.  He  was  berated  as  an  hnperious  mas- 
ter berates  an  offending  servant.  ''  Your  last  letter 
is  full  of  nothing  but  complaints."  "  You  have 
exceeded  your  authority."  ''  Study  to  know  your- 
self and  to  understand  clearly  the  ditference  there 
is  Letween  a  governor  and  an  intendant."  *•  Since 
you  fail  to  comprehend  the  difference  between  you 
and  the  officer  who  represents  the  king's  person. 
you  are  in  danger  of  being  often  condemned,  or 
rather  of  being  recalled,  for  his  Majesty  cannot 
endure  so  many  petty  com])laints,  founded  on 
nothing  jjut  a  certain  quasi  ec[uality  between  the 
overnor  and  you,  which  you  assume,  but  which 


K 


1   Mvulca  on  }fi)}istrr,  12  Nov.,  1G84. 

-  Thus,  Meules  ia  flatly  forbidden  to  compel  litigants  to  brins 
causes  before  him  {Instruction  }io\tr  le  Sicnr  de.  Mcnles,  1082),  and  tiiis  pro- 
hibition is  nearly  of  the  same  date  with  the  commission  in  wliicli  the 
power  to  do  so  is  expressly  given  him. 


( 


1663-17''3.] 


THE  INTENDANT. 


277 


does  not  exist."  *'  Meddle  with  notliiiiij^  bevond 
vour  functions."  "  Take  good  care  to  tell  nie 
nothiii"C  hut  the  truth."  ^'  You  ask  too  manv  favors 
for  your  adherents."  "  You  must  not  spend  more 
tliiui  you  have  authority  to  spend,  or  it  will  be 
tiikoii  out  of  your  pay."  In  short,  there  are  several 
k'ttci's  from  the  minister  Colbert  to  his  colonial 
man-of-all-work,  which,  from  beginning  to  end, 
are  one  continued  scold.^ 

The  luckless  intendant  Avas  liable  to  be  held  to 
account  for  the  action  of  natural  laws.  "  If  the 
population  does  not  increase  in  proportion  to  the 
pains  I  take,"  writes  the  king  to  Duchesneau,  ''y^ou 
are  to  lay  the  blame  on  yourself  for  not  having 
executed  my  principal  order  {to promote  mart^iac/es) 
and  for  having  failed  in  the  principal  object  for 
which  I  sent  you  to  Canada."'"^ 

A  great  number  of  ordinances  of  intendants  are 
preserved.  They  were  Tisually  read  to  the  people 
at  tlie  doors  of  churches  after  mass,  or  sometimes 
by  the  cure  from  his  pulpit.  They  relate  to  a 
great  variety  of  subjects,  —  regulation  of  inns  and 
markets,  poaching,  preservation  of  game,  sale  of 
brandy,  rent  of  pews,  stray  liogs,  mad  dogs,  tithes, 
matrimonial  quarrels,  fast  driving,  wards  and  guar- 
dians, weights  and  measures,  nuisances,  value  of 
coinage,  trespass  on  lands,  building  churches,  observ- 
ance of  Sunday,  preservation  of  timber,  seignior 
and  vassal,   settlement  of  boundaries,   and   many 

'  Tlie  above  examples  are  aU  taken  from  the  letters  of  CoHiert  to  tho 
inteiKiant  Duchesneau.  It  is  an  extreme  case,  hut  ot!-..  intendants  aro 
ucciisioiially  treateil  with  scarce!}'  more  ceremony. 

''  Le  Roi  a  Duchesneau,  11  Juiii,  1G80. 


I 

i 


art 

f 
Us 


m 

ttc 


fet 


S^'-H.. 


I 


278 


THE   RULERS   OF   CANADA. 


[1003-1703. 


other  matters.  If  a  cure  ^vitli  some  of  Lis  ]>iirisli- 
ioners  reported  that  his  church  or  his  iiouse  needed 
re[)air  or  rehiiihhng,  the  iiiteudant  issued  an  oidi- 
nance  re(juiriu<^-  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  ]i;iiidi. 
"both  those  who  have  consented  and  those  wIkj 
have  not  consented,"  to  contribute  materials  ami 
labor,  on  pain  of  fine  or  other  penalty.^  Tlie  iiiilitiu 
captain  of  the  cote  was  to  direct  tlie  work  and  see 
that  each  parisliioner  did  liis  due  part,  which  \va> 
determined  by  the  extent  of  his  farm;  so,  too.  if 
the  (jnuul  voyer,  an  otHcer  charged  with  the  supcr- 
mtendence  of  highways,  reported  that  a  new  roinj 
was  wanted  or  that  an  ohl  one  needed  meudiiiL:'. 
an  ordinance  of  the  intendant  set  the  whole  neiuli- 

4 

borhood  at  work  upon  it,  (hrected,  as  in  the  other 
case,  by  the  ca])tain  of  militia.  If  children  were 
left  fatherless,  the  intendant  ordered  the  cure  of 
the  parish  to  assemble  their  relations  or  friends  lor 
the  choice  of  a  guardian.  If  a  censitaire  did  not 
clear  his  land  and  live  on  it,  the  intendant  took  it 
from  him  and  gave  it  back  to  the  seignior.' 

Chimney-swee|)ing  having  been  neglected  at 
Quebec,  the  intendant  commands  all  householders 
promptly  to  do  their  duty  in  this  respect,  and  at 
the  same  time  llxes  the  ])i\y  of  the  sweep  at  six 
sous  a  chimney.  Another  order  forbids  quarrcdlinj:' 
in  church.  Another  assigns  pews  in  due  order  of 
precedence  to  the  seignior,  the  captain  of  militia. 
and  the  wardens.    The  intendant  Kaudot,  who  seems 

•  Sec,  anionjA'  nuiDy  cNiunplt's,  the  onliiianco  ot'24tli  Dcci'iiilicr,  171o 
Edifs  ct  Ordoiitidures,  II.  44;]. 

-  Comparo  tlie  miiiierous  orUiiiaiiees  printed  iu  the  second  anil  tliii'J 
Volumea  of  Edita  tt  Urdonnunces. 


16ij3-lTtJ3.] 


ABS(n.UTISM. 


279 


to  luive  been  inspired  even  more  than  the  others 
Avith  the  spirit  of  paternal  intervention,  issued  a 
iiiiUidate  to  the  eileet  that,  whereas  the  people  ot" 
Montreal  rjiise  too  many  horses,  whieh  prevents 
tlieni  iVom  I'aising  cattle  and  sheep,  "  being  therein 
io'iioiant  of  their  true  interest.  .  .  .  Now,  therefore, 
we  coininand  that  each  inhabitant  of  the  cofcs  of 
this  government  shall  hereafter  own  no  more  than 
two  horses  or  mares  and  one  foal ;  the  same  to  take 
I'lt'ect  after  the  sowing-season  of  the  ensuing  vear, 
ITlU.  giving  them  time  to  rid  themselves  of  their 
liuises  in  excess  of  said  number,  after  which  they 
will  be  required  to  kill  any  of  such  excess  that  may 
R'liuiiu  in  their  possession."  ^  Many  other  ordi- 
nances, if  not  e([ually  preposterous,  are  e(iually 
.stringent;  such,  for  example,  as  that  of  the  inten- 
daut  Bigot,  in  which,  with  a  view  of  promoting 
agriculture,  and  i)rotecting  the  morals  of  the  farmers 
by  saving  them  from  the  temptations  of  cities,  he 
proclaims  to  them :  "  We  pi-ohibit  and  forbid  you 
to  remove  to  this  town  {Quebec)  under  any  pretext 
whatever,  without  our  permission  in  writing,  on 
pain  of  being  expelled  and  sent  back  to  your  farms, 
your  furniture  and  goods  confiscated,  and  a  line  of 
liftv  livres  laid  on  vou  f(n'  the  benefit  of  the  bos- 
pitals.  And,  furthermore,  we  forbid  all  inhabitants 
of  the  city  to  let  houses  or  rooms  to  persons  coming 
from  the  country,  on  pain  of  a  line  of  a  hundred 
hvrcs,  also  applicable  to  the  hospitals."^  At  about 
the  same  time  a  royal  edict,  designed  to  prevent 
the  undue  subdivision  of  farms,  forbade  the  country 

'  Julits  et  Ordonnaiices,  II.  273.  '^  Ibid.,  II.  3'J'J. 


280 


THE   RULERS   OF  CANADA. 


n6r,;i_i7e3, 


people,  except  such  as  were  authorized  to  live  in 
villages,  to  build  a  house  or  barn  on  any  pi^-co  of 
land  less  than  one  and  a  half  arpcnis  wide  and 
thirty  arpents  long ;  ^  while  a  subsequent  ordiiiaiife 
of  the  intendant  commands  the  immediate  dcinoli- 
tion  of  cer<:ain  houses  built  in  contravention  (jt  the 
edict. ^ 

The  spirit  of  absolutism  is  everywhere  appnieiit. 
"  It  is  of  very  great  consequence/'  writes  the  in- 
tendant Monies,  "  that  the  people  should  not  hf 
left  at  liberty  to  speak  their  minds."  ^ 

Hence  public  meetings  were  jealously  restricted. 
Even  those  held  by  parishioners  under  the  eye  of 
the  cure  to  estimate  the  cost  of  a  new  church  seem 
to  have  recpiired  a  special  license  from  the  inten- 
dant. Durino;  a  number  of  vears  a  meetin"'  of  the 
principal  inhabitants  of  Quebec  was  called  in  s])riiiL'' 
and  autumn  by  the  council  to  discuss  the  price  and 
quality  of  bread,  the  supply  of  firewood,  and  other 
similar  matters.  The  council  commissioned  two  of 
its  members  to  preside  at  these  meetings,  and  on 
hearing  their  report  took  what  action  it  thought 
best.  Thus,  after  the  meeting  held  in  Februarv, 
1686,  it  issued  a  decree,  in  which,  after  a  long  and 
formal  preamble,  it  solemnly  ordained,  "  that  be- 
sides white-bread  and  light  brown-bread,  all  bakers 
shall  hereafter  make  dark  brown-bread  whenever 
the  same  shall  be  required."  *  Such  assemblies,  so 
controlled,  could  scarcely,  one  would  think,  wound 

1  Edits  ct  Ordonixmrrs,  I.  585.  2  Ihi'd.,  II.  400. 

3  "  II  no  laisse  pas  d'Otrc  de  tros  grande  consequence  de  ne  pas  laisser 
la  liberte  au  peuple  de  dire  son  sentiment."  —  Meules  aii  Ministre,  1685. 
*  Edits  ct  Ordoniianccs,  II.  112. 


363-17f>3.1 


ABSOLUTISM. 


281 


the  tonderest  susceptibilities  of  authority ;  yet 
there  was  evident  distrust  of  them,  and  after  a 
few  years  this  modest  shred  of  self-»government  is 
seen  no  more.  The  syndic,  too,  that  functionary 
whom  the  people  of  the  towns  were  at  first  allowed 
to  choose,  under  the  eye  of  the  authorities,  was 
ronjured  out  of  existence  Ijy  a  word  from  the  king. 
Seignior,  censitalre,  and  citizen  were  prostrate  alike 
in  flat  subjection  to  the  royal  will.  They  were  not 
free  even  to  go  home  to  France.  No  inhabitant 
of  Canada,  man  or  woman,  could  do  so  without 
leave ;  and  several  intendants  express  their  belief 
that  without  this  precaution  there  would  soon  be  a 
falling  off  in  the  population. 

hi  1671  the  council  issued  a  curious  decree. 
One  Paul  Dupuy  had  been  heard  to  say  that  there 
is  nothing  like  righting  one's  self,  and  that  when 
the  English  cut  off  the  head  of  Charles  I.  they  did 
a  good  thing,  with  other  discourse  to  the  like  effect. 
The  council  declared  him  guilty  of  speaking  ill  of 
royalty  in  the  person  of  the  king  of  England,  and 
uttering  words  tending  to  sedition.  He  was  con- 
demned to  be  dragged  from  prison  by  the  public 
executioner,  and  led  in  his  shirt,  with  a  rope  about 
his  neck,  and  a  torch  in  his  hand,  to  the  gate  of 
the  Chateau  St.  Louis,  there  to  beg  pardon  of  the 
king ;  thence  to  the  pillory  of  the  Lower  Town  to 
be  branded  with  a  flenr-de-Us  on  the  cheek,  and 
set  in  the  stocks  for  half  an  hour ;  then  to  be  led 
back  to  prison,  and  put  in  irons  "  till  the  informa- 
tion against  him  shall  be  completed."  ^ 

I  Jitgements  et  Deliberations  du  Conseil  Superieur. 


282 


THE  IIULEIIS   OF   CANADA. 


[lt>>i-17tj;j. 


<l|ii 


II 


If  irreverence  to  royalty  was  thus  rigorous] v 
chastised,  irrevx'rence  to  (iod  was  threatened  widi 
still  sharper  penalties.  Louis  XIV^.,  ever  haunted 
with  the  fear  of  the  devil,  sought  protection  against 
him  by  his  famous  edict  against  swearing,  dulv 
registered  on  the  books  of  the  council  at  (^iichcc. 
"  It  is  our  will  and  [)leasure,"  says  r  his  pious  mini. 
date.  ••  that  all  persons  convicted  of  pre  lane  swcai- 
ing  or  ])laspheming  the  name  of  God,  the  most 
Holy  \'irgin,  his  mother,  or  the  saints,  l)e  con- 
dennied  for  the  first  offence  to  a  pecuniary  lini.' 
according  to  their  possessions  and  the  greatness 
and  enormity  of  the  oath  and  blasphemy  ;  audit' 
those  thus  ])unished  repeat  the  said  o:iths,  tlicii  for 
the  second,  third,  and  fourth  time  thev  shall  hu 
condennied  to  a  double,  triple,  and  quadruple  line; 
and  for  the  fifth  time,  the\'  shall  be  set  in  the 
pillory  on  Sunday  or  other  festival  days,  there  tu 
reniidn  from  eiglit  in  the  morning  till  one  in  the 
afternoon,  ex])Osed  to  all  sorts  of  opproln'iuiu  and 
abuse,  and  be  condennied  besides  to  a  heavy  line; 
and  for  the  sixth  time,  thev  shall  be  led  to  the 
pillory,  and  there  have  the  upper  lip  cut  with  a 
hot  iron  ;  and  for  the  seventh  time,  they  shall  he 
k'd  to  the  pillorj^  and  liave  the  lo\V(3r  hp  cut ;  and 
if,  by  reason  of  o))stinacy  and  inveterate  bad  liahit. 
they  continue  after  all  these  punishments  to  utter 
the  said  oaths  Jind  blasphemies,  it  is  our  Avill  and 
command  that  they  have  the  tongue  completely 
cut  out,  so  that  thereaftei'  they  cannot  utter  them 
All    those   who   should    hear   anybody 


agaui. 


"  1 


1  Edit  dn  Roi/  contre  les  Jureurs  et  Blasjdt^mateurs,  da  30//(e  JuUht,  1600. 
See  lidils  ct  Orddinidiirrs,  I.  Ti'i. 


161)3-1703.] 


canjvdian  justice. 


283 


swear  wore  further  required  to  report  the  fact  to 
the  nearest  jinlge  within  twenty-four  hours,  on 
,..iii  of  line. 

Tiiis  is  far  from  being  the  only  instauee  in  which 
the  temporal  power  lends  aid  to  tlie  s[)iritual. 
Among  other  cases,  the  following  is  worth  men- 
tioning :  Louis  Gaboury,  an  inhabitant  of  the  island 
ut  OileanS;  charged  with  eating  meat  in  Lent  with- 
out iisking  leave  of  the  priest,  was  condennied  by 
the  local  judge  to  be  tied  three  hours  to  a  stid-ie 
in  pul)lic,  and  then  led  to  the  door  of  the  clia[)el, 
then;  on  his  knees,  with  head  bare  and  hands 
diisped,  to  ask  pardon  of  God  and  the  king.  The 
culprit  appealed  to  the  council,  which  revoked  the 
sentence  and  imposed  only  a  ilne.^ 

The  due  subordination  of  households  Ivod  its 
share  of  attention.  Servants  who  deserted  their 
masters  were  to  be  set  in  the  pillory  for  the  lirst 
offence,  and  wdiipped  and  branded  for  the  second  ; 
while  any  person  harboring  them  was  to  pay  a  fine 
of  twenty  francs."  On  the  other  hand,  nobody  was 
allowed  to  employ  a  servant  without  a  license.^ 

In  case  of  heinous  charu'es,  tortiu'e  of  the  accused 
was  permitted  under  the  French  law ;  and  it  was 
sometimes  practised  in  Canada.  Condemned  nun*- 
ilerers  and  felons  were  occasionally  tortured  before 
beinu'  strangled ;  and  the  dead  body,  enclosed  in  a 
kind  of  iron  cage,  was  left  hangiim-  for  months  at 
the  top  of  Cape  Diamond,  a  terror  to  children  and 
a  warning  to  evil-doers.     Yet,  on  the  w  hole,  Cana- 


'^OmeJitHI'l,  lOOG. 


^  Doutre  et  Lareau,  Flistoire  da  Droit  Canadien,  163. 
2  lie'ijlement  de  Police,  1676. 
'  Edits  et  0^'donnaiices,  II.  63. 


afe- 

I 


tkc 

if  I' 


284 


TIIK   HULRUS   OF   CANADA. 


[icg:;-i:o,3. 


dian  justice,  tried  by  the  .staiidiird  of  tlie  time,  was 
neither  vindictive  nor  cruel. 

In  read i  II <,^  tlie  vohuninous  correspondence  of 
governors  '•  '  intendants,  the  minister  and  the 
king,  nothing  is  more  apparent  tlian  the  iiiU'rcst 
"vvith  which,  in  the  early  part  of  his  reign,  Louis 
XIV.  regarded  liis  colony.  One  of  the  faults  df 
his  rule  is  the  excess  of  his  benevolence  ;  lor  not 
only  did  he  give  money  to  support  parish  priests. 
build  churches,  and  aid  the  seminary,  the  Ursulincs, 
the  missions,  and  the  hospitals;  but  he  estahlisla'd 
a  fund  destined,  among  other  objects,  to  vclii've 
indigent  persons,  subsidized  nearly  every  Ijiiuich 
of  trade  and  industry,  and  in  other  instances  did 
for  the  colonists  what  they  would  far  better  have 
learned  to  do  for  tliemselves. 

Meanwhile  the  officers  of  government  were  far 
from  suffering  from  an  excess  of  royal  beneliceiice. 
La  Hontan  says  that  the  locfd  governor  of  Tliivo 
Rivers  would  die  of  hunger  if,  besides  his  pay.  he 
did  not  gain  something  by  trade  with  the  Indians ; 
and  that  Perrot,  local  governor  of  Montreal,  with 
one  thousand  crowns  of  salary,  traded  to  such  pur- 
pose that  in  a  few  years  he  made  fifty  thousand 
crowns.  This  trade,  it  may  be  observed,  was  in  vio- 
lation of  the  royal  edicts.  The  pay  of  the  governor- 
general  varied  from  time  to  time.  When  La  Potorii' 
wrote  it  was  twelve  thousand  francs  a  year,  l»esidos 
three  thousand  which  he  received  in  his  capacity 
of  local  governor  of  Quebec.^     This  would  hardly 

1  In  1674,  the  governor-general  received  20,718  francs,  out  of  wliuli 
he  was  to  pay  8,718  to  his  guard  of  twenty  men  ami  officers.     Onlwi- 


1603-1703.] 


ABUSES. 


285 


t,iii|)t  a  Frenchman  of  rank  to  expatriate  himself ; 
;iii(|  vet  some,  at  least,  of  the  governors  came  ont 
to  the  colony  for  the  express  purpose  of  mending 
their  fortnnes ;  indeed,  the  higher  nol)ility  could 
>(!urc'ly,  in  time  of  peace,  have  other  motives  for 
ii()in«i'  there.  The  court  and  the  army  were  their 
I'k'ini'ut,  and  to  be  elsewhere  was  banishment.  AVe 
shall  see  hereafter  by  what  means  they  sought 
componsation  for  their  exile  in  Canadian  forests. 
Loud  complaints  sometimes  found  their  way  to 
\'ersailles.  A  memorial  addressed  to  the  regent 
duke  of  Orleans,  immediately  after  the  king's  death, 
declares  that  the  ministers  of  state,  who  have  been 
till'  real  managers  of  the  colony,  have  made  their 
creatures  and  relations  governors  and  intendants, 
and  set  them  free  from  all  responsibility.  High 
colonial  olhcers,  pursnes  the  writer,  come  home 
rich,  while  the  colony  languishes  almost  to  perish- 
ing.' As  for  lesser  offices,  they  were  multiplied 
to  satisfy  needy  retainers,  till  lean  and  starving 
Canada  was  covered  with  official  leeches,  sucking, 
in  famished  desperation,  at  her  bloodless  veins. 
Tlie  whole  system  of  administration  centred  in 


mnce  (In  Rojj,  1G75.  Yet  in  1G77,  in  the  Etdi  de  In  FMponse  que  le  lioij  vent 
i'  ordonne  estve  Jiiite,  etc.,  the  total  pay  of  the  governor-general  is  set 
down  at  3,000  francs,  and  so  also  in  1681,  1682,  and  1687.  The  local 
(.'overnor  of  Montreal  was  to  luvve  1,800  francs,  and  the  governor  of 
Tliree  Rivers  1,200.  It  is  clcj'r,  however,  that  this  Etal.  de  (le/ie)ise  is  not 
complete,  as  there  is  no  })rov".sion  for  the  intendant.  The  first  councillor 
received  500  francs,  and  the  rest  300  francs  each,  equal  in  Canadian 
money  to  400.  An  ordinance  of  1670  gives  the  intendant  12,000  francs. 
It  is  tolerably  clear  that  the  provision  of  3,000  francs  for  the  governor- 
iieiieral  was  meant  only  to  apply  to  his  capacity  of  local  governor  of 
Qiieliec. 

^  Meinoire  address^  au  Re'ijent,  1715. 


286 


THE  IIULEUS   OF  CANADA. 


(lf''*'.:i-1708. 


the  kiiif,^,  ^y\\{),  to  boi-row  tlio  formulii  of  liis  edicts 
"  in  the  luhiesH  of  our  power  and  oiii-  certain  knowl- 
edge,"  was  supposed  to  direct  tiie  wliole  nnicliinc. 
from  its  highest  functions  to  its  pettiest  intci ach- 
tion  in  private  affairs.  That  this  tlieory,  like  nH 
extreme  theories  of  government,  was  mii  illii-ion. 
is  no  fault  of  Louis  XJV.  Hard-working  iiioiiiiivh 
as  he  was,  he  spared  po  pjiins  to  guide  his  distmir 
colony  in  the  paths  of  j)rosperity.  The  jnolix 
letters  of  governors  and  intendants  were  ciiri'l'iillv 
studied  ;  and  many  of  the  replies,  signe(l  hy  \\\v 
royal  hand,  entei*  into  details  of  siu'prising  niiuuic- 
ness.  That  the  king  himself  wrote  these  letters  is 
incredible ;  but  in  the  early  part  of  his  reign  1il' 
certainly  directed  and  controlled  them.  At  a  liitcr 
time,  when  more  absor})ing  interests  enirrossed 
him,  he  could  no  longer  study  in  person  the  ioiiu- 
Avinded  despatches  of  his  Canadian  othcers.  They 
were  nsually  addressed  to  the  minister  of  state. 
who  caused  abstracts  to  be  made  from  thein.  for 
the  king's  nse,  and  perhaps  for  his  own.'  The 
minister  or  the  minister's  secretary  could  su])})res8 
or  color  as  he  or  those  wdio  infhienced  him  saw  fit. 
In  the  latter  h.alf  of  his  too  long  reign,  when 
cares,  calamities,  and  humiliations  w^ere  thickening 
around  the  king,  another  influence  was  added  to 
make  the  theoretical  supremacy  of  his  roynl  will 
more  than  ever  a  mockery.  That  prince  of  annal- 
ists, Saint-Simon,  has  painted  Louis  XIV.  ruling 
his  realm  from   the  bedchamber   of   Madame  de 

^  Many  of  these  abstracts  are  still  preserved  in  tlie  Arcliives  of  tlie 
Marine  and  Colonies. 


lW3-lTt'':Vl        TIIK   KIN'G  AND  TIIK  MINISTKR. 


2:^7 


Miiinti'iion ;  seated  witli  his  minister  at  a  small 
table  l)esi(lo  the  fire,  the  kin<r  in  an  arm-chair,  the 
minister  on  a  stool  ^vith  his  hau"  of  papers  on  ji 
stceiid  stool  near  him.  Jn  anothei*  ai'm-ehair,  at 
Miiothcr  table,  on  the  other  side  of  the  (i«'e,  sat  the 
scdiite  favorite,  busy  to  all  a))pearajiee  with  a  hook 
or  ii  ])ieee  of  tapestry,  hut  listeniiiii;  to  every  thin^^ 
tliMt  })assed.  "  She  I'aridy  spok(\"  says  Saint-Simon, 
••t'X('e])t  when  the  kinij,'  asked  her  opinion,  which 
ho  often  did  ;  and  then  sh(^  answer^'d  with  great 
(li'jiberation  and  g-ravity.  She  never  or  very  rarely 
showed  a  partiidity  for  any  nieasnre,  still  less  for 
any  person;  but  she  had  an  understanding  with  the 
minister,  who  never  dared  do  otherwise  than  she 
wished.  Whenever  any  favor  or  appointment  was 
in  question,  the  business  was  settled  between  them 
beforehand.  She  would  send  to  the  minister  that 
she  wanted  to  speak  to  him,  and  he  did  not  dare 
bring  the  matter  on  the  ear})et  till  he  had  received 
her  orders."  Saint-Simon  next  recounts  the  subtle 
methods  by  which  Maintenon  and  the  minister, 
her  tool,  Ix^gniled  the  king  to  do  their  will,  while 
never  doubting  that  he  was  doing  his  own.  "  lie 
thought,"  concludes  the  annalist,  "  that  it  was  he 
iih)ne  who  disposed  of  all  appointments;  while  in 
reality  he  disposed  of  very  few  indeed,  except  on 
the  rare  occasions  when  he  had  taken  a  fancy  to 
somebodv,  or  when  somel)odv  whom  he  wanted  to 

favor  had  spoken  to  him  in  behalf  of  somebody 

else."  1 


le  Archives  of  tlie 


1  Mt^moires  <in  Due  de  Saiiif-Simon,  XTII.  38,  89  (Cheruel,  1857).    Saint- 
^imon,  notwithstanding  tlie  independence  of  Iiis  character,  held  a  liigh 


288 


THE  RULERS   OF  CANADA. 


[10G3-1763. 


Acid  to  all  this  the  rarity  of  communication  ^vith 
the  distant  colony.  The  ships  from  France  aiiived 
at  Quebec  in  July,  August,  or  September,  and 
returned  in  November.  The  machine  of  Caiuidian 
government,  wound  up  once  a  year,  was  exjx^cted 
to  run  unaided  at  least  a  twelvemonth,  indeed. 
it  was  often  left  to  itseK  for  two  years,  siudi  was 
sometimes  the  tardiness  of  the  overburdened  o-ov- 
ernment  in  answering  the  despatches  of  its  colonial 
agents.  It  is  no  matter  of  surprise  tliat  a  writer 
well  versed  in  its  affairs  calls  Canada  thci  "  comitrv 
of  abuses."  ^ 


In    S^ 


position  at  court ;  and  his  acute  and  careful  observation,  joiiitMl  to  lii< 
familiar  acquaintance  witli  ministers  and  otlier  functionaries,  botli  in  uiiil 
out  of  office,  gives  a  rare  value  to  his  matchless  portraitures. 
1  Etat  pr€xent  du  Canada,  1758. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

16G3-17G3. 

TKADE  AND  INDUSTRY. 

Trade  iv  Fetters.  —  The   Huguenot   Mehciiants.  —  Royal  Pat- 
KONAiiE.  —  Tin-;  FisiiKi'.iEs.  —  Chiks  you  Heli'.  —  AfJinrriTtiM;. 

—  Manufactures.  —  Arts  of  Ornament.  —  Finance.  —  Card 
M<»ney.  —  Repudiation.  —  Imposts.  —  The  Beaver  Trade.  — 
Tin;  Fair  at  Montri:ai>.  —  (^ontrahand  Trade.  —  A  Fatal 
System.  —  Trouble   and   (^hanoe.  —  The    Coureur8  i>e   Bois. 

—  The  Forest.  —  Letter  of  Cakheil. 


We  have  seen  the  head  of  the  colony,  it^  ii:iii(lin<2: 
iiiti'llcct  and  will :  it  remains  to  observe  Its  orL!;;ins 
uf  nutrition.  Whatever  tliey  might  have  heen 
uikUt  a  different  treatment,  they  were  perverted 
and  enfeebled  by  the  regimen  to  which  they  were 
subjected. 

The  spirit  of  restriction  and  monopoly  had  ruled 
iVom  the  beginning.  The  old  governor  Lauson, 
H'iu'.iiur  for  a  while  of  a  great  part  of  the  colony, 
lii'M  that  Montreal  had  no  ri^'ht  to  trade  direct! v 
with  France,  but  must  draw  all  her  sup[)lies  from 
'Quebec  ;  ^  and  this  preposterous  claim  was  revived 
in  the  time  of  Mczy.  The  successive  companies 
tu  whose  hands  the  colony  was  consign(Ml  Imd  a 
baiKlul  effect  on  individual  enterprise.     In  1074, 

^  Faillon,  Culuwi-  h'mntia  si ,  II.  244. 
19 


■  ^-    ■  V 


r-^<. 


* 


290 


TRADE  AND   INDUSTRY. 


[1003-1703. 


the  charter  of  the  West  India  Company  was  revoked. 
and  trade  was  declared  open  to  all  siil)jects  of  the 
king ;  yet  connnercc  was  still  condennied  to  \\( ai- 
the  ])all  and  chain.  New  restrictions  were  imposed. 
meant  for  good,  Init  resulting  m  evil.  JIcic  limits 
not  resident  in  the  colony  were  forbidden  jill  trade 
direct  or  indirect,  with  the  Indians.^  Tliev  were 
also  forbidden  to  sell  any  goods  {it  ret^iil  exce[)t  in 
August,  September,  and  Octoljer;^  to  trade  ;m\- 
where  in  Canada  above  Quebec  ;  and  to  sell  clotliiiiL:' 
or  domestic  tirticles  ready  made.  This  last  restric- 
tion was  designed  to  develop  colonial  iii(lii>tiv. 
No  person,  resident  or  not,  could  trade  with  thu 
English  colonies,  or  go  thither  without  a  special 
passport,  and  rigid  examination  by  the  iiiilitiirv 
authorities.^  Forei}»'n  trade  of  anv  kind  was  still'- 
prohibited.  In  171D,  after  a  new  company  had 
engrossed  the  beaver  trade,  its  agents  were  empow- 
ered to  enter  all  houses  in  Canada,  whether  eeele- 
siastical  or  secular,  and  search  them  for  foreign 
goods,  which  when  found  were  publicly  bunied.^ 
In  the  next  year,  the  royal  council  ordered  thai 
vessels  engaged  in  foreign  trade  should  be  cai)tiiied. 
by  force  of  arms,  like  pirates,  and  confiscated  along 
with  their  cargoes;"*  while  anybody  having:'  an 
article  of  foreign  numufacture  in  his  possession 
was  sul)iected  to  a  heavy  line.^ 

Attempts  were  made   to  fix  the  exact  amount 
of  profit  which  meivhants  from  France  sliuidd  be 


1  IU^<ycmrnt  de  PoliW,  KuO,  Art.  xl. 

2  j-:,'i;ts,i  Oni.,  11. 100. 

4  Ibid.,  1.  402.  5  iijid,,  I.  42o. 


^  /hid.,  I.  -IB'.), 
e  JOid.,  I.  000. 


'it 


ir/)3-17G3.] 


HERESY   AND   TRADE. 


291 


exact  iinioLint 
nee  t^liuiilil  be 


allowed  to  jiiake  in  tliii.,CDlony.  One  of  the  first 
acts  of  the  .superior  eouneil  was  to  order  them  to 
biiiiu'  their  invoices  immediately  hel'ore  thai  l»od\-, 
which  thereupon  allixed  prices  to  each  article. 
The  uierchant  wlio  sold  and  the  j)urchaser  who 
milt    aljove    this   tariff   were    alike   condemned 


1 10 1 


to  heavy   penalties 


dti 


and    so,   too,  was    the   mer- 


diiiiit  who  chose  to  keep  his  goods  rather  than 
sell  them  at  the  price  ordained.^  Resident  mer- 
chants, on  the  other  hand,  Avere  favored  to  the 
utmost.  They  could  sell  at  what  price  they  saw 
lit;  and,  according  to  La  Ilontan,  they  made  great 
piodt  by  the  sale  of  laces,  ribbons,  watches,  jewels, 
and  similar  siq^erduities  to  the  poor  but  extravagant 
colonists. 

A  considerable  nuinl)er  of  the  non-resident  mer- 
chants were  Huguenots,  for  most  of  the  importa- 
tions were  from  the  old  Huguenot  city  of  liochelle. 
Xo  favor  was  shown  them  ;  thev  were  held  under 
riii'id  restraint,  and  forl^idden  to  exercise  their 
religion,  or  to  remain  in  the  colony  during  winter 
without  special  license.^     This  sometimes  bore  very 


m]  11 


po 


n 


tl 


lem. 


rf 


Tl 


le  irovernor 


I) 


enoiiN' 


an 


anient  Catholic,  states  the  case  of  one  IJernon,  who 
had  done  great  service  to  the  colony,  and  whom 
ha  Ilontan  mentions  as  the  principal  Fi'ench  mer- 
chant in  the  Canadian  trade.  ''It  is  a  l)ity,"  says 
Denonville,  ''  that  he  cannot  be  converted.  As  he 
1^  a  Huguenot,  the  ])ish()p  wants  me  to  order  hiin 
home  this  autumn,  which  I  have  done,  though  he 


»  Edits  It  Old.,  U.  17,  r.t. 

-  lic'i/lcmeut  de  Police,  107(3.     Art.  xxxvii. 


292 


TRADE  AND   INDUSTRY. 


[1603-1 763. 


carries  on  a  large  business,  and  a  great  doiil  of 
money  remains  due  to  him  here."  ^ 

For  a  long  time  the  ships  from  France  went 
home  empty,  except  a  favored  few  which  cairicd 
furs,  or  occasionally  a  load  of  dried  pease  or  uf 
lumber.  Payment  was  made  in  money  when  tlicie 
was  Jiny  in  Canada,  or  in  bills  of  exchange.  The 
colony,  drawing  every  thing  from  France,  mid 
returning  little  besides  beaver  skins,  reinaincd 
under  a  load  of  debt.  French  merchants  were  dis- 
couraged, and  shipments  from  France  languislicd. 
As  for  the  trade  with  the  West  Indies,  which  Talon 
had  tried  by  precept  and  example  to  build  up.  the 
intendant  reports  in  1G80  that  it  had  nearly  ceased; 
though  six  years  later  it  grew  again  to  the  modest 
proportions  of  three  vessels  loaded  with  wheat.'- 

The  besettin^:  evil  of  trade  and  industry  in 
Canada  was  the  habit  they  contracted,  and  were 
encouraged  to  contract,  of  depending  on  the  direct 
aid  of  government.  Not  a  new  enterprise  was  set 
on  foot  without  a  petition  to  the  king  to  lend  a 
helping  hand.  Sometimes  the  petition  was  sent 
through  the  governor,  sometimes  through  tlie  in- 
tendant;  and  it  was  rarely  refused.  Denonville 
writes  that  the  merchants  of  Quebec,  hy  a  eoni- 
bined  effort,  had  sent  a  vessel  of  sixty  tons  to 
France  with  colonial  produce ;  and  he  asks  that 
the  royal  connnissaries  at  Rochefort  be  instructed 
to  buy  the  whole  cargo,  in  order  to  encourage  so 


1  Denonvi/le  nn  Mini'sfre,  168o. 

'i  lliid.,  instj.   The  year  before,  about  18,000  mhwts  of  grain  were  sent 
hiUier.     In  173G,  the  shipments  reached  80,000  luinuts. 


lC03-17t53.] 


ROYAL  PATRONAGE. 


293 


prise  wa.s  set 


on  ^vas  sent 


)f  grain  were  .*ent 


deserving  an  enterprise.  One  ITazenr  set  u\)  a 
<;nv-iuill,  at  Mai  Bay.  Finding  a  large  stock  of 
planks  and  timber  on  liis  liands,  he  begs  the  Idng 
to  send  two  vessels  to  carry  them  to  France  ;  and 
the  king  accordingly  did  so.  A  similar  request 
was  made  in  l^ehalf  of  another  saw-mill  at  St.  Paul's 
Bav.  Denonville  announces  that  one  liiverin 
wishes  to  embark  in  the  whale  and  cod  fisherv, 
and  that  though  strong  in  zeal  he  is  weak  in  re- 
sources. The  minister  replies,  that  he  is  to  be 
eneouraged,  and  that  his  ^hijesty  will  favorably 
consider  his  enterprise.^  Various  gifts  were  soon 
after  made  him.  lie  now  took  to  himself  a  part- 
ner, the  Sieur  Chalons ;  wherenpon  the  governor 
writes  to  ask  the  minister's  protection  for  them. 
'•The  Basques,"  he  says,  "  formerly  carried  on  this 
fisher}',  but  some  monopoly  or  other  put  a  sto])  to 
it."  The  remedy  he  proposes  is  homwopnthic. 
He  asks  another  monopoly  for  the  two  ])artners. 
Louis  Joliet,  the  discoverer  of  the  Mississippi,  made 
a  (ishing  station  on  the  island  of  Anticosti ;  and  he 
begs  help  from  the  king,  on  tlie  ground  that  his 
lishery  will  furnish  a  good  and  useful  employment 
to  young  men.  The  Sieur  Vitry  wished  to  begin 
a  fishery  of  white  porpoises,  and  he  begs  the  king 

'  Tlie  interost  fi'lt  by  the  kinji  in  these  matters  is  shown  in  a  letter 
?i;,MiL'il  liv  his  hand  in  which  he  enler.««  witii  c()nsi(leral)ie  detail  into  the 
liliiii-  (if  IJivt'iin.  /.I  lliiij  u  I htiDtirillf  d  Chiniipiiinii,  1  Mai,  Kis'.t.  He 
iilicruiinls  ordered  hoals,  harpooners,  and  cordage  to  he  sent  him,  for 
"hicii  lie  was  to  pay  at  his  convenience.  Four  years  later,  he  com- 
I»l;iiii>  tiiat,  thoiiyh  Kiverin  had  heeii  olten  helped,  Ids  fislieries  were  of 
i^ii^lit  account.  "  I,et  him  take  care,"  pursues  the  kin{i,  "tluit  lie  does 
not  iiH'  ins  enterprises  as  a  pretext  to  obtain  favors."  Me'iuoire  tlu  I!<-y 
a  ItuhIi  line  et  t'luuni'lynij,  ItV.t;). 


204 


TRADE  AND   INDUSTRY 


[lGG;V17i',3, 


k 


to  give  him  two  thousand  pounds  of  cod-lInc  ;iii(] 
two  thousand  pounds  of  one  and  two  inch  rope. 
His  request  was  granted,  on  Avhich  he  asked  fop 
five  hinidred  hvres.  The  money  was  given  him, 
and  the  next  year  lie  asked  to  have  th(^  njft 
renewed.^ 

The  king  was  very  anxious  to  develop  the  lisli- 
eries  of  the  colony.  ''  His  Majesty,"  writes  the 
minister,  'Mvishes  you  to  induce  the  inhabitants  to 
unite  with  the  merchants  for  this  object,  and  to 
incite  them  by  all  sorts  of  means  to  overcome  tlu'ir 
natural  laziness,  since  there  is  no  other  wav  of 
saving  them  from  the  misery  in  which  tliev  now 
are."  ^  "I  wish,"  says  the  zealous  Denonvillc. 
"  thiit  fisheries  could  be  well  established  to  give 
employment  to  our  j'oung  men,  and  prevent  them 
from  running  wild  in  the  Avoods ;  "  and  Ik^  ^M^ 
mournfully,  ^' they  [tlie  fisheries)  are  enriching 
Boston  at  our  expense."  ^^  They  are  our  true 
mines,"  urges  the  intendant  Meules ;  "  l)ut  the 
English  of  Boston  have  got  possession  of  tliosc  of 
Acadia,  which  belong  to  us;  and  we  ought  to  pre- 
vent it."     It  was  not  prevented  ;  and  the  Canadian 


•  All  tlic  above  examples  are  drawn  from  tlie  correspondence  of  tlic 
governor  and  intendant  with  the  minister,  between  KibO  and,  Iti',''.',  to- 
gether with  a  memorial  of  ilazeur  and  another  of  Riverin,  addrcsjed  to 
the  minister. 

Vitry's  ])orpoise-flshinfr  appears  to  liave  ended  in  failure.  In  1707  tlie 
intendant  Wandot  granted  the  j)orpoise  fishery  of  the  seigniory  "f  Kiviore 
Quelle  to  si.\  of  the  litiliitaiis.  This  fishery  is  carried  on  here  suecessfiilly 
at  the  jncsent  (hiy.  A  very  interesting  account  of  it  was  publi^llt■d  in  tlio 
0/iii,l()ii  Piililii/iN\  1878,  by  my  friend  Abbe  Casgrain,  whose  family  resi- 
dence is  the  seigniorial  mansion  of  Riviere  Ouelle. 

2  Meiiioire  pour  Deitouville  et  CliamiHijny,  8  Mars,  1G88. 


m-\:m.] 


THE  FISHERIES. 


295 


i   given    llllil, 
ive    tlic   Liift 


tisliori(^s,  like  other  1)ranclies  of  Canadian  inrlustiy, 
iviimli.ed  in  a  state  of  almost  Uopeless  languor.^ 
Tlic  government  applied  various  stimulants.  One 
i)t'  these,  proposed  hy  tlie  intendant  Dueliesneau,  is 
cliai'iU'teristic.  lie  advises  the  formation  of  a  eom- 
V  wliieh  should    have    the    exelusive   riudit  of 


ail 


■xporting  lish  ;  hut  whieh  on  its  part  should  he 
v([iiire<l  to  take,  at  a  fixed  price,  all  that  the  iu- 
laliitants  should  hriug  them.  This  notid)le  plan 
lid  not  find  favor  with  the  king.~    It  was  practised, 


however,  in  the  cas( 


of  1 


weaver  skin 


an( 


1  al.> 


o  in 


that  of  wood-ashes.  The  farmers  of  the  revenue 
were  required  to  take  this  last  commodity'  at  a 
fixed  pri(!e,  on  their  own  risk,  and  in  any  (quantity 
offered.  Thev  remonstrated,  savinu:  that  it  was 
unsalable  ;  adding  that,  if  the  inhabitants  would 
liut  take  the  trouble  to  turn  it  into  potash,  it  might 
l)e  possible  to  find  a  market  for  it.  The  king 
released  them  entirely,  coupling  his  order  to  that 
I'i'feet  with  a  eulogv  of  free  trade.^ 

In  all  departments  of  industry,  the  appeals  for 
help  are  endless.  Governors  and  intendants  are 
^0  many  stm'dy  heggars  for  the  languishing  colony. 


?!!pon'lon('o  of  ttie 
()bO  and,  Hi'.t'.i.  to- 
^erin,  aiUlrcsseil  to 

ilure.  In  1707  tlie 
iiiiiiory  of  KiviiTu 
1  here  succ'e->liilly 
IS  publislied  in  tlio 
whose  tiiniily  ie:>i- 


'  Tlie  Canadian  fisheries  must  not  be  confounded  witli  the  Freneh 
fi-lieries'  of  Newfoundland,  wliicli  were  i)r()siier()us,  hut  were  carried  on 
wholly  Ironi  Frencli  ports. 

Ill  a  lueinorial  addressed  by  the  partners  Chalons  and  Riverin  to  the 
iiiiMister  Sei^Mielay,  they  say:  "  Baston  (lioston)  et  toute  sa  colonic  nous 
loiiiie  Mil  exeiniile  qui  fait  honte  a  nostre  nation,  puisqu'elle  s'aiiij,uiente 
tons  los  Jours  par  cette  pesche  (ilc  la  jiionte)  qu  elle  fait  la  plu8  fjrande 
inrtio  siir  nos  costes  pemlant  (jue  les  Franrois  tie  s'oc'cupent  a  rien." 
Meiiles  urues  tiiat  the  kint^  should  inidertake  the  tisliing  busine-s  Iiimself, 
since  his  subjects  cannot  or  will  not. 

'■^  Miiilsiri'  a  Ditcliisiifdii,  15  }f(ti,  KwS. 

'  Le  Li»!i  a  Dtichesneau,  11  Juiii,  IbbO. 


s     --J 


296 


TRADE  AND  INDUSTRY. 


[1663-1 7G3. 


*'  Send  us  money  to  build  storehouses,  to  wliicli  the 
habitant  a  can  bring  their  produce  and  receive 
goods  from  the  government  in  exchange."  '•'  Send 
us  a  teacher  to  make  sailors  of  our  young  nioii: 
it  is  a  pity  the  colony  should  remain  in  such  a 
state  for  want  of  instruction  for  youth." '  •'  We 
want  a  surgeon :  there  is  none  in  Canada  who  can 
set  a  bone."^  ''Send  us  some  tilers,  brick-iuakcrs, 
and  potters."  ^  "  Send  us  iron-workers  to  work  our 
mines."**  ''It  is  to  be  wished  that  his  Ma  jest  v 
woidd  send  us  all  sorts  of  artisans,  especial  1\  pot- 
ters and  glass-workers."  ^  "  Our  Canadians  need 
aid  and  instruction  in  their  fisheries;  they  need 
pilots."  « 

In  1688,  the  intendant  reported  that  Canada 
■was  entirely  without  either  pilots  or  sailors ;  and, 
as  late  as  1712,  the  engineer  Catalogue  informed 
the  government  that,  though  the  St.  Lawrence  was 
dangerous,  a  pilot  was  rarely  to  be  had.  "  There 
ought  to  be  trade  with  the  West  Indies  and  other 
places,"  urges  another  writer.  "  Everj-body  says 
it  is  best,  but  nobody  will  undertake  it.  Our  mer- 
chants are  too  poor,  or  else  are  engrossed  by  die 
fur  trade."  ^ 

The  languor  of  commerce  made  agriculture  lan- 
guish.    "  It   is   of    no  use  now,"    writes  Monies, 

1  il/ie/Ho/Ve  a  }fcv!tpifitieur  le  Marquis  de  Seignelay,  pr^sent^  par  Its  Sieun 
Chalona  tf  Hiverin,  KiSii. 

'^  Chiiiti/iiiinij  ait  Ministre,  1688. 

S  Ihid. 

*  /Jt'nonvilhi  an  Ministre,  1686. 

5  M^nioire  de  Catalof/ne,  1712, 

8  l>i'ii<)i)vill<'  ail  Miui»tre,  lt')8G. 

7  M^iiioire  de  Chalons  et  Hiverin  pr^sent€  axi  Marquis  de  Seignelay. 


1C63-1763.] 


MANUFACTURES. 


297 


-^senl^  par  les  Sieun 


in  1G82,  "  to  raise  any  crops  except  what  each 
family  wants  for  itself."  In  vain  the  government 
sent  out  seeds  for  distribution.  In  vain  intendants 
lectured  the  farmers,  and  lavished  well-meant  ad- 
vice. Tillage  remained  careless  and  slovenly, 
•h,"  says  the  all-observing  Catalogue,  ^'  the  soil 
were  not  better  cultivated  in  Euroj^e  than  here, 
tliree-fourths  of  the  people  Avould  starve."  He 
(Oinplains  that  the  festivals  of  the  church  are  so 
numerous  that  not  ninety  Avorking  days  are  left 
(Imhig  the  whole  w^orking  season.  The  peoi)le,  he 
says,  ought  to  be  compelled  to  build  granaries  to 
store  their  crops,  instead  of  selling  them  in  autumn 
for  almost  nothing,  and  every  habitant  should  be 
required  to  keep  two  or  three  sheep.  The  intend- 
ant  Champigny  calls  for  seed  of  hemp  and  llax, 
and  promises  to  visit  the  farms,  and  show  the 
peo})le  the  lands  best  suited  for  their  culture.  He 
thinks  that  favors  should  be  granted  to  those  who 
raise  hemp  and  flax  as  well  as  to  those  who  marry. 
Denouville  is  of  opinion  that  each  habitant  should 
be  compelled  to  raise  a  little  hemp  every  year, 
and  that  the  king  should  then  buy  it  of  him  at  a 
high  price. ^  It  w411  be  well,  he  says,  to  make  use 
of  severity,  Avliile,  at  the  same  time,  holding  out 
a  hope  of  gain ;  and  he  begs  that  weavers  be  sent 
out  to  teach  the  women  and  girls,  who  spend  the 
winter  in  idleness,  how  to  weave  and  spin.  AVeav- 
ing  and  spinning,  however,  as  w^ell  as  the  culture 
of  hemp  and  flax,  were  neglected  till  1705,  when 
the  loss  of  a  ship  laden  with  goods  for  the  colony 

1  Denonville  an  Ministre,  13  Nov.,  1686. 


298 


TRADE  AND   IXDUSTUY. 


[IOCS- 1703. 


gave  tlio  s[)Ui'  to  lioino  industry;  and  Madaiiif  dc 
Kepentigiiy  set  tlu>  example  of  luaking  a  kind  of 
coarse  blanket  of  nettle  and  linden  hark.' 

The  iealousv  of  colonial  manufactures  shown  hv 
EngliUid  appears  l)ut  I'arely  In  tlie  relations  of 
France  with  Canada.  According  to  its  light,  the 
French  <»:overnment  nsuallv  did  its  l)est  to  stiiiiu- 
late  Canadian  industrj^  with  what  results  we  liiiw 
just  seen.  There  was  aftei'wards  some  iiiij)r()ve- 
ment.  In  1714,  the  intendant  IJegon  I'eported  that 
coarse  fabrics  of  wool  Jind  linen  were  made  ;  tliai 
the  sisters  of  the  congregation  wore  cloth  for  their 
ow'n  habits  as  good  as  the  same  stuffs  in  France; 
that  black  cloth  w\'is  m.ade  for  priests,  and  blue  cloth 
for  the  pupils  of  the  colleges.  The  inhabitants. 
he  says,  have  been  taught  these  arts  by  necessity. 
They  were  naturally  adroit  at  handiwork  of  all 
kinds;  and  durinu^  the  last  half  century  of  the 
French  rule,  when  the  population  had  settled  into 
comparative  stability,  many  of  the  mechanic  arts 
w^ere  practised  with  success,  notwithstanding  the 
assertion  of  the  Abbe  La  Tour  that  every  tliinL:' 
but  bread  and  meat  had  still  to  be  brought  from 
France.  This  change  may  be  said  to  date  from 
the  peace  of  Utrecht,  or  a  few  j^ears  before  it.  At 
that  time,  one  Duplessis  had  a  new^  vessel  on  the 
stocks.  Catalogne,  who  states  the  fact,  calls  it  the 
beginning  of  ship-buildir.g  in  Canada,  evidently 
ignorant  that  Talon  had  made  a  fruitless  be^i'inni mi' 
more  than  forty  years  before. 

Of  the  arts  of  ornament  not  much  could  have 

1  Deauharnois  et  Raitdo'  lu  Ministre,  1705. 


In.:3-17t»3.] 


FINANCE. 


299 


ht'cu  expected  ;  hut,  strini«ic'ly  enough,  tliey  were 
in  somewhat  hetter  eonchtloii  than  the  useful  arts. 
Till'  luuis  of  the  Ilotel-Dieu  made  artificial  (lowers 
i(;r  altars  and  shrines,  under  the  diivction  of  Mother 
Juchcreau ; '  and  the  hoys  of  the  seniiujiry  were 
Mimlit  to  make  carvings  in  wood  for  the  decoration 
111  cliui'ches.^  Pierre,  son  of  the  merchant  Ta'  15er, 
had  a  turn  for  painting,  and  made  religious  pictures, 
(k'sci'ihed  as  very  indifferent.^  His  sister  Jeanne, 
all  enthusiastic  devotee,  made  emhroideries  for 
vostinents  and  altars,  and  her  "work  was  much 
admired. 

The  colonial  finances  were  not  prosperous.  In 
ilii  absence  of  coin,  heaver-skins  long  served  as 
ciiiTcncv.  In  1GG9,  the  council  declared  wheat  a 
It'iial  tender,  at  four  francs  the  mhiot  or  three 
Froneli  hushels;'*  and,  five  years  later,  all  creditors 
were  ordered  to  receive  moose-skins  in  payment  at 
the  market  rate.^  Coin  would  not  remain  in  the 
roloiiy.  If  the  company  or  the  king  sent  any 
diither,  it  went  hack  in  the  returning  ships.  The 
government  devised  a  remedy.  A  coinage  was 
ordered  for  Canada  one-fourth  less  in  valu.3  than 
that  of  France.  Thus  the  Canadian  livre  or  franc 
was  worth,  in  reality,  fifteen  sous  instead  of  twenty.'' 
This  shallow  expedient  produced  only  a  nominal 
rise  of  prices,  and  coin  fied  the  colony  as  before. 

'  .lucliereau, //;s^  rfer/7d^e/-iD/eH,  244. 
-  Ah.'<ne,  II.,  13. 

3  Faillon,  Vie  de  Mile.  Le  lier,  331. 
^  Kdiis  d  Old.,  II.  47. 
■^  /'.»/.,  II.  55. 

^  Tills  device  was  of  very  oi  riy  date.  See  Boucher,  [list.  V&itable, 
chap.  xiv. 


300 


THADE   AND   INDUSTRY. 


11003-1703. 


If/ 


Trjido  was  ciinicwl  on  for  n  time  by  inojins  of  hcmo. 
tinble  notes,  ])iiyal)le  in  furs,  o-oods,  or  fanii  piod. 
lice.  In  ICxS.j,  tlie  nitendiint  Meules  issued  a 
card  currency.  He  hud  no  money  to  |);i\  iIk- 
soldiers,  ''  and  not  knowin;^-,"  he  informs  tlic  inln- 
ister,  "  to  what  saint  to  make  my  vows,  the  idcn 
occurred  to  me  of  putting-  in  circulation  noics 
made  of  cards,  each  cut  into  four  |)ieces ;  jukI  1 
have  issued  an  ordinance  counnandin^u,-  the  iiili;d)i- 
tants  to  receive  them  in  payment."  ^  'i'he  caids 
"vvere  common  ])laying  cards,  and  each  jjiece  was 
stamped  with  njletfr-dc-lis  and  a  crown,  and  signed 
by  the  governor,  the  intendant,  and  the  clerk  of 
the  treasury  at  Quebec."  The  example  of  Meide^ 
fonnd  ready  imitation.  Governors  and  intendant^ 
made  card  money  whenever  they  saw  ill  ;  mid. 
being  worthless  everywhere  but  in  Cnnada.  it 
showed  no  disposition  to  escape  the  colony.  It 
was  declared  convertible  not  into  coin,  but  intd 
bills  of  exchange  ;  and  this  conversion  could  oidy 
take  place  at  brief  specified  periods.  "  The  cur- 
rency used  .  .  Canada,"  says  a  writer  in  the  last 
years  of  the  French  rule,  "  has  no  value  as  a  repre- 
sentative of  money.  It  is  the  sign  of  a  sign.'  '^  It 
was  card  representing  paper,  and  this  paper  was  vorv 
often  dishonored.  In  1714,  the  amount  of  card 
rubbish  had  risen  to  two  million  livres.  Confidcnte 
was  lost,  and  trade  was  half  dead.  The  minister 
Ponchartrain  came  to  the  rescue,  and  promised  to 


1  .}reiiles  an  ^finistr(',  24  Sept.,  1085. 

2  M^mnire  a(hinsse'  (lu  /ie'i/i'iit,  1715. 

3  Co)isideiutlons  siir  I'Etat  da  Canada,  1758. 


1(;65-1703.] 


KEPUDIATION. 


301 


ivdi'cin  it  at  lialf  its  nominal  value.  The  holders 
iiivfcMivd  to  lose  half  rather  tluui  the  whole,  and 
;i(r("|)ted  the  terms.  A  few  of  the  eards  were 
aik'C'iued  at  the  rate  named  ;  then  the  govern- 
iiKiit  hroke  faith,  and  payment  ceased.  "  This 
iilllicting  news,"  says  a  writer  of  the  time,  "  was 
inoiight  out  hy  the  vessel  which  sailed  from  France 
I;isr,liily." 

In  1717,  the  government  made  another  proposal, 
and  the  cards  were  converted  into  bills  of  exchange. 
At  the  same  time  a  new  issue  was  made,  which  it 
was  declared  should  be  the  last.*  This  issue  was 
piuiiiptl}^  redeemed,  but  twelve  years  later  another 
tnllowed  it.  In  the  interval,  a  certain  quantity  of 
ruin  circulated  in  the  colony ;  but  it  imderwent 
tliic'tuations  through  the  intervention  of  govern- 
luont;  and,  within  eight  years,  at  least  four  edicts 
wore  issued  affectim;'  its  value.^  Then  came  more 
promises  to  pay,  till,  in  tlie  last  bitter  years  of  its 
existence,  the  colony  lloundered  in  drifts  of  worth- 
k'ss  ])aper. 

One  characteristic  grievance  was  added  to  the 
countless  woes  of  Canadian  connnerce.  The  gov- 
ernment was  so  jealous  of  popular  meetings  of  all 
kinds,  that  for  a  long  time  it  forbade  merchants  to 
meet  to^jrether  for  discussin<>:  their  affairs ;  and,  it 
was  not  till  1717  that  the  establishment  of  a  bourse 
or  exchange  Avas  permitted  at  (Quebec  and  Mon- 
treal;^ 

hi  respect  of  taxation,  Canada,  as  compared  with 


»  /r-Z/Vs  et  Ord.,  1.  370.  2  Ihld.,  400,  432,  43G,  484. 

•*  Doutre  et  Lareau,  Hist,  du  Droit  Canadieii,  "254. 


302 


TRADE  AND  INDUSTRY. 


[1003-1703. 


et,, 


Sir'- 


# 


France,  had  no  reason  to  complain.  If  tln'  kinu- 
2)ei'niitte(l  governors  and  intendants  to  make  vayu 
money,  he  permitted  nobody  to  impose  taxes  l»iit 
himself.  The  Canadians  paid  no  direct  civil  tux. 
except  in  a  few  instances  where  tem])oraiy  aiid 
local  assessments  were  ordered  for  special  ohjccts. 
It  was  the  fur  trade  on  which  the  chief  kiiKKn 
fell.  One-fourth  of  the  beaver-skins,  and  onc-iciitli 
of  the  moose-hides,  belonged  to  the  king  ;  and  wiin'. 
brandy,  and  tobacco  contributed  a  duty  of  icii  ])ei' 
cent.  DuriniJ!'  a  Ion*;'  course  of  years,  these  wwr 
the  only  imposts.  The  king,  also,  retained  tlii' 
exclusive  right  of  the  fur  trade  at  Tadoussac.  A 
vast  tract  of  wilderness  extending  from  St.  I'aiilV 
Bay  to  a  point  eighty  leagues  down  the  St.  Luw- 
rence,and  stretching  indefinitely  northward  towards 
Hudson's  Bay,  formed  a  sort  of  royid  pivscivc. 
whence  every  settler  Avas  rigidl}'  excluded.  '[\\c 
farmers  of  the  revenue  had  their  trading-houses  at 
Tadoussac,  whither  tlie  northern  tribes,  luitil  war. 
pestilence,  and  brandy  consumed  them,  liiouglit 
every  smnnier  a  large  cpiantity  of  furs. 

When,  in  1674,  the  West  India  Com])aiiy.  to 
Avhom  these  imposts  had  been  granted,  wa-  extin- 
guished, the  king  resumed  possession  of  them.  Tlir 
various  duties,  jdong  with  the  trade  of  Tadoussac. 
were  now  farmed  out  to  one  Oudiette  and  lii^ 
associates,  who  ])aid  the  Crown  three  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  livres  for  their  privilege.' 


»,'"■>  1  The  annual  return  to  tlie  king  from  the ft'niic (In  Camuta  wjis,  j'  n-Mtnif 
years,  U'J.OUO  francs  (livres).  Out  oftliis  wen- paid  from  ;!."),(Kl(i  lo  V^sm 
francs  a  year  for  "  ordinary  charges."     Tiie  governor,  intendani,  aiul  ill 


I6ij3-17G3.] 


THE  BEAVER  TRAD::. 


SOS 


We  come  now  to  a  trade  far  more  important 
than  all  the  rest  together,  one  which  absorbed 
the  enterprise  of  the  colony,  drained  the  life- 
sip  fioni  other  jjranches  of  commerce,  and,  even 
more  than  a  vicious  system  of  government,  kept 
thuiii  in  a  state  of  chronic  debility,  —  the  hardy, 
adventurous,  lawless,  fascinating  fur  trade./  In 
the  eighteenth  centur\',  Canadii  exported  a  mod- 
ulate (jujintity  of  timber,  wheat,  the  herb  called 
piiiseng,  and  a  few  other  connnodities ;  but  from 
lir.^it  to  last  she  lived  chiefly  on  beiiyei'-skins.  The 
government  tried  without  ceasing  to  control  and 
leguhite  this  traliic;  but  it  never  succeeded.  It 
uiined,  above  all  things,  to  bring  the  trade  home 
to  the  colonists,  to  prevent  them  from  going  to 
the  Indians,  and  induce  the  Indians  to  come  to 
ihem.  To  this  end  a  great  annual  fair  was  estab- 
hshed  bv  order  of  the  kin^*-  at  Montreal.     Thither 

t '  o  11,1...     __„ 

(.veiy  sununer  a  host  of  savages  came  down  from 
the  lakes  in  their  jjark  ciiiioes.  A  place  was  assigned 
them  at  a  little  distance  from  the  town.  They 
lauded,  drew  up  their  canoes  in  a  line  on  the  bank, 
took  out  their  packs  of  Ijeaver-skins,  set  np  their 
wigwams,  slung  their  kettles,  and  encamped  for 
the  night.  On  the  next  day,  there  Avas  a  grand 
council  on  the  connnon,  between  St.  Paul  Street 
and  the  river.     Speeches  of  com})liment  were  made 

iiiM>i)s  txcept  tlio  siiHiU  tratri.sons  ot  (iiiehi'c.  Montreal,  ami  Tliroe  Rivers, 
"tic-  iiaitl  tVom  otlier  soiin-cs.  There  was  a  tiiiu'  svlieii  the  lialiincc'  must 
ii^ivc  lii'on  in  tlic  l<in,tr's  favor;  but  profit  sf)on  cliniitred  to  loss,  owin}? 
|iaitlv  lo  wars,  partly  to  tlie  contusion  into  which  the  heaver  trade  soon 
It'll.  '■  His  Majesty,"  writes  the  minister  to  the  jiovernor  in  lOUH,  "  may 
Hion  grow  tired  of  u  colony  which,  far  trom  yielding  him  any  pro  tit,  cut;!'? 
lii.ii  inuiiense  sums  every  ye  ir." 


304 


TRADK   AND   INDUSTRY. 


11603-17C3. 


♦hi' 


amid  a  solemn  smoking  of  pipes.  The  governor- 
general  was  usually  present,  seated  in  an  arm-chair 
while  the  visitors  formed  a  ring  about  him,  raiiLiX'tl 
in  the  order  of  their  tribes.  On  the  next  dav  the 
trade  began  in  the  same  place.  Merchants  of  hl'di 
and  low  degree  brought  up  their  goods  from  (Que- 
bec, and  every  inhabitant  of  Montreal,  of  any  suh- 
stance,  sought  a  share  in  the  profit.  Their  booths 
were  set  along  the  palisades  of  the  town,  and  each 
had  an  interpreter,  to  whom  he  usually  promi.^ed  a 
certain  portion  of  his  gains.  The  scene  abouiKh'd  in 
those  contrasts  —  not  always  edifying,  but  always 
picturesque  —  which  mark  the  whole  course  of 
French  Canadian  history.  Here  was  a  throng  of  In- 
dians armed  with  bows  and  arrows,  war-clubs,  or  the 
cheap  guns  of  the  trade  ;  some  of  them  com})h'tely 
naked  except  for  the  feathers  on  their  heads  and  the 
paint  on  their  faces ;  French  bush-rangers  tricked 
out  with  savage  finery  ;  merchants  and  lufOifd/ifs 
in  their  coarse  and  plain  attire,  and  the  grave 
priests  of  St.  Sulpice  robed  in  black.  /;  Order  and 
sobriety  were  their  watchwords,  but  the  wild  gath- 
ering was  be^'ond  their  control.  The  prohil»iti(tu 
to  sellbrandy  could  rarely  be  enforced ;  and  the 
fair  ended  at  tunes  in  a  pandemonium  of  drunken 
frenzy.  The  rapacity  of  trade,  and  the  license  of 
savages  and  coiircurs  de  hois,  had  completely  trans- 
formed the  pious  settlement.  _^> 
^A  similar  fair  was  established  at  Three  Rivers, 
for  the  Algonquin  tribes  north  of  that  place.  These 
yearly  markets  did  not  fully  answer  the  desired 
object.      There  was  a  constiint  tendency  among 


16i;3-lT63.] 


THE  FOREST   TRADE. 


305 


the  iiiliabitants  of  Canada  to  form  settlements  above 
Montreal,  in  order  to  intercept  the  Indians  on  their 
uav  down,  drench  them  with  brandy,  and  get  their 
furs  from  tliem  at  low  rates  TtTlici vance  of  the  fair. 
Such  settlements  were  forbidden,  but  not  prevented. 
The  audacious  "squatter"  defied  edict  and  ordi- 
nance and  the  fury  of  drunken  savages,  and  b(jldly 
planted  himself  in  the  path  of  the  descending  tnule. 
Nor  is  this  a  matter  of  surprise  ;  for  he  was  usually 
the  secret  agent  of  some  high  colonial  odicer,  an 
intendant,  the  local  governor,  or  the  governor- 
iienend,  wdio  often  used  his  power  to  enforce  the 
law  aii:ainst  others,  and  to  violate  it  himself._l 
\  ^^This  was  not  all;  for  the  more  youthful  and 
vigorous  part  of  the  male  population  soon  began  to 
escape  into  the  woods,  and  trade  with  \X\q.  Indians 
far  bevond  the  limits  of  the  remotest  settlements. 
Here,  too,  many  of  them  were  in  league  with  the 
authorities,  who  denounced  the  abuse  while  secretly 
favoring  the  portion  of  it  in  which  they  themselves 
were  interested.!  The  home  government,  unable 
to  prevent  the  evil,  tried  to  regulate  it.  Licenses 
w(M'o  issued  for  the  forest  trade. ^  Their  number 
wasliuiited  to  twenty-five,  and  the  privileges  which 
they  conferred  varied  at  different  periods.  In  La 
Hontan's  iime,  each  license  authorized  the  depart- 
ure of  two  canoes  loaded  with  goods.  One  canoe 
onlv  was  afterwards  allowed,  bearimi^  three  men 
with  al)out  four  hundred  pounds  of  freight.  The 
licenses  were  sometimes  sold  for  the  ])rofit  of 
government,  but  many  were  given  to  widows  of 


^  OrJrcs  da  lioi/  au  nujtt  de  la  Tnitte  dit  Canada,  1081. 

20 


I«< 


306 


TRADE   AND   INDUSTRY. 


[16G3-17G3. 


officers  and  other  needy  persons,  to  the  hospitals 
or  to  favorites  and  retainers  of  the  governor.  Tliose 
who  coukl  not  themselves  use  them  sold  them  to 
merchants  or  voyarjeiirs,  at  a  price  varying  from  a 
thousand  to  eighteen  hundred  francs.  Tliev  were 
valid  for  a  year  and  a  half;  and  each  canocman 
had  a  share  in  the  profits,  which,  if  no  accident 
happened,  were  very  large.  The  license  system 
was  several  times  suppressed  and  renewed  a<^iun; 
but,  like  the  fair  at  Montreal,  it  failed  coinpletelv 
to  answer  its  purpose,  and  restrain  the  youiifr 
men  of  Canada  from  a  general  exodus  into  the 
wdderness.^ 

The  most  characteristic  features  of  the  Canadian 
fur  trade  still  remain  to  be  seen.  Oudiette  and 
his  associates  were  not  only  charged  with  coHeet- 
ing  the  revenue,  but  were  also  vested  with  an 
exclusive  right  of  transporting  all  the  heaver-skins 
of  the  colony  to  France.  On  their  part  they  were 
compelled  to  receive  all  beaver-skins  brought  to 
their  magazines ;  and,  after  deducting  iha  fonrth 
belonging  to  the  king,  to  pay  for  the  rest  at  a  fixed 
price.  This  price  was  graduated  to  the  different 
qualities  of  the  fur ;  ])ut  the  average  cost  to  the 
collectors  was  a  little  more  than  three  francs  a 
pound.  Tlie  inhabitants  could  barter  their  furs 
with  merchants  ;  but  the  merchants  must  hriiiL 
them  all  to  the  magazines  of  Oudiette,  who  ])aid  in 
receipts  convertible  into  bills  of  exchange,  lie 
soon   found  himself  burdened  with  such  a  mass 

'  I?eforc  mo  is  one  of  tliese  licenses,  sifjned  by  tlie  povernor  Dt'itoii 
ville.     A  conclilion  of  carrying  no  brandy  is  appended  to  it. 


10G3-17O3.] 


TROUBLE  AND   CHANGE. 


30* 


of  Ijeaver-sklus,  that  the  market  was  compk^tclj 
oluttecL  The  French  hatters  refused  to  take  tliem 
all ;  and  for  the  part  which  they  consented  to  take, 
they  paid  chiefly  in  Iiats,  which  Oudiette  was  not 
allowed  to  sell  in  France,  but  only  in  the  Fi-ench 
West  Indies,  where  few  people  wanted  them.  An 
unhicky  fashion  of  small  hats  diminished  the  con- 
siunption  of  fur  and  increased  his  embarrassments, 
as  (lid  also  a  practice  connnon  among  the  hatters 
of  mixing  rabbit  fur  with  the  beaver.  In  his 
extremity  he  bethought  him  of  setting  up  a  hat 
factory  for  himself  imder  the  name  of  a  certain 
licensed  hatter,  thinking  thereby  to  alarm  his  cus- 
toiuers  nito  buying  his  stock. ^  The  other  hatters 
rose  in  wrath  and  petiti(  iied  the  minister.  The 
new  factory  was  suppressed,  and  Oudiette  soon 
Ijecaine  bankrupt.  Another  company  of  farmers 
of  the  revenue  took  his  place  with  similar  results. 
The  action  of  the  law  of  supply  and  demand  was 
completely  arrested  by  the  peremptory  edict  which, 
with  a  view  to  the  prosperity  of  the  colony  and 
the  profit  of  the  king,  required  the  company  to 
take  every  beaver-skin  offered. 

All  Canada,  thinking  itself  sure  of  its  price, 
rushed  into  the  beaver  trade,  and  the  accuundation 
of  unsalalde  furs  became  more  and  more  suiTo- 
cating.  The  farmers  of  the  revenue  could  not 
meet  tbeir  en<»'a<!:ements.  Their  bills  of  excliany!:e 
were  unpaid,  and  Canada  was  filled  with  distress 
and  consternation.     In  1700,  a  change  of  svstem 

-'  CD  «/ 

was  ordered.     The  monopoly  of  exporting  beaver 

1  Menioire  louchaiit  le  Commerce  du  Canada,  1087. 


308 


TRADE  AND  INDUSTRY. 


[1003-1 7G3. 


% 


was  placed  in  the  hanrls  of  a  company  formcfl  of 
the  chief  inhabitants  of  Canada.  Some  of  tliom 
hesitated  to  take  the  risk  ;  but  the  goveniinont 
was  not  to  be  trifled  with,  and  the  minister,  Pon- 
chartrain,  wrote  in  terms  so  peremptory,  and  so 
menacing  to  the  recusants,  that,  in  the  words  of  a 
writer  of  the  time,  he  "  shut  everybody's  iiioutli." 
About  a  himdred  and  fifty  merchants  accord iiiuiv 
subscribed  to  the  stock  of  the  new  company,  nw] 
immediately  petitioned  the  king  for  a  ship  and  a 
loan  of  seven  hundred  thousand  francs.  They 
were  required  to  take  off  the  hands  of  the  farmers 
of  the  revenue  an  accumulation  of  more  than  six 
hu  dred  thousand  pounds  of  beaver,  for  Avhich, 
however,  they  were  to  pay  but  half  its  usual  price. 
The  market  of  France  absolutely  refused  it.  and 
the  d* rectors  of  the  new  company  saw  no  better 
course  than  to  burn  three-fourths  of  the  tronlde- 
some  and  perishable  commodity ;  nor  was  tliis  the 
first  resort  to  this  strange  expedient.  One  cannot 
repress  a  feeling  cf  indignation  at  the  fate  of  the 
interesting  and  unfortunate  animals  uselessly  saeii- 
ficed  to  a  false  economic  system.  In  order  to  rid 
themselves  of  what  remained,  the  directors  beirii;ed 

/  CO 

the  king  to  issue  a  decree,  requiring  all  hatters  to 
put  at  least  three  ounces  of  genuine  beaver-fur 
into  each  hat. 

All  was  in  vain.  The  affairs  of  the  company  fell 
into  a  confusion  Avhich  was  aggravated  by  the  bad 
faith  of  some  of  its  chief  members.  In  1707,  it  was 
succeeded  by  another  company,  to  whose  magazines 
every  habitant  or  merchant  was  ordered  to  biiii;;;' 


1663-1763.] 


THE   COUREURS  DE  BOIS. 


309 


lered  to  brin,,^ 


every  beaver-skin  in  his  possession  within  forty- 
eight  hours ;  and  the  company,  like  its  predeces- 
,<ors,  was  required  to  receive  it,  and  pay  for  it  in 
written  promises.  Again  the  marl^et  was  over- 
wliehned  with  a  surfeit  of  beaver.  Again  the  bills 
of  exchange  were  unpaid,  and  all  was  confusion 
ami  distress.  Among  the  memorials  and  petitions 
to  wliich  this  state  of  things  gave  birth,  there  is 
one  conspicuous  by  the  presence  of  good  sense 
and  the  absence  of  self-interest.  The  writer  pro- 
poses that  there  should  be  no  more  monopoly,  but 
that  everybody  should  be  free  to  buy  beaver-skins 
and  send  them  to  France,  subject  only  to  a  mod- 
erate duty  of  entry.  The  proposal  was  not  accepted. 
In  1721,  the  monopoly  of  exporting  beaver-skins 
was  given  to  the  new  West  India  Company ;  but 
this  time  it  was  provided  that  the  government 
should  direct  from  time  to  time,  according  to  the 
capacities  of  the  market,  the  quantity  of  furs  Avliich 
the  company  should  be  forced  to  receive.' 
'/'  Out  of  the  beaver  trade  rose  a  huge  evil,  baneful 
to  the  ii-rowth  and  the  morals  of  Canada.  All  that 
was  most  active  and  vigorous  in  the  colony  took 
to  the  woods,  and  escaped  from  the  control  of  in- 
tendants,  councils,  and  priests,  to  the  savage  fi'ee- 

'  On  tlie  fur  trade  the  docninients  consulted  are  A'er}'  numerous.  Tlie 
folio lY i.  ^  are  the  most  inii)ortant :  M^moire  snr  ce  qui  concfrnc  Ic  Com- 
iiiH-ci-  dti  Castor  nt  sps  depumlances,  1710;  M^moire  toncermint  le  Conunuie 
(If  Trulte  entrc.  les  Frnnqois  ct  Ips  Sditinrf/is,  16UI  ;  Me'molre  stir  le  Caiiarfa 
nddrffi!!^  an  lid'nenf,  171o;  Mc^ninire  sur  les  Affaires  de  Canada  dans  Imir 
Ei^liit  jire'sent,  IG'JG  ;  Meinoire  dis  Ne'</otiants  de  la  Rochelle  qui  foul  (.'oinmerce 
(■II  <'ii)iiida  snr  la  Proposition  de  ne  ])lns  recevoir  les  Castors  et  d^niimjcr  les 
[lahiliinls  a  la  Culture  des  Terres  et  Pesche  de  la  \tohie,  1690  ;  Meinoire  dn 
St.  Itiv  rin  sur  la  Traite  et  la  Ferine  du  Castor,  ICUt) ;  J'^nioire  toucliant  le 
Comnerce  du  Canada,  1687,  etc. 


310 


TRADE  AND  INDUSTRY 


[ICG3-17G3. 


fm  .M 


%-l 


:.l!r. 


dom  of  the  wilderness.  Not  only  were  the  possiMe 
profits  great ;  but,  in  the  pursuit  of  them,  thoit;  was 
a  fascinatinf]^  element  of  adventure  and  dan 'cr 
The  l)ush-rangers  or  coureurs  de  hois  were  to  the 
king  an  object  of  horror.  They  defeated  his  plans 
for  the  increase  of  the  population,  and  shocked  his 
native  instinct  of  discipline  and  order.  Edict  after 
edict  was  directed  against  them;  and  more  ilian 
once  the  colony  presented  the  extraordinary  spec- 
tacle of  the  greater  part  of  its  young  men 
turned  into  forest  outlaws.  But  severity  was  dan- 
gerous. The  offenders  might  be  driven  o^•el•  to 
the  English,  or  "con  veiled  into  a  lawless  banditti, 
renegades  of  civilization  and  the  faith.  Then'forc, 
clemency  alternated  with  rigor,  and  declarations 
of  amnesty  with  edicts  of  proscription.  Neither 
threats  nor  blandishments  were  of  much  a\ail 
We  hear  of  seii»:niories  abandoned ;  farms  tuniini*: 
again  into  forests ;  wives  and  children  left  in  desti- 
tution. The  exodus  of  the  coureurs  de  hols  wonld 
take,  at  times,  the  character  of  an  organized  niovo- 
ment.  The  famous  Du  Lhut  is  said  to  have  made 
a  general  combination  of  the  young  men  of  Canada 
to  follow  him  into  the  w^oods.  Their  plan  was  to 
be  absent  four  years,  in  order  that  the  edicts  against 
them  niio:ht  have  time  to  relent.  The  intendant 
Duchesneau  reported  that  eight  himdred  men  out 
of  a  population  of  less  than  ten  thousaiid^souls  had 
vanislied  from  .sight  in  the  immensity  of  a  bound- 
less wilderness.  Whereupon  the  king  ordered  that 
any  person  going  into  the  woods  without  a  license 
should  be  wdiipped  and  branded  for  the  first  offence, 


lot)3-1703.] 


THE   COUKKURS    I)E  BOIS. 


311 


and  sent  for  life  to  the  galleys  for  the  second.' 
The  order  was  more  easily  given  than  enforced. 
"I  must  not  conceal  from  you,  monseigneiir,"  again 
writes  Duchesneau,  "  that  the  disobedience  of  the 
mii'turs  de  hois  has  reached  such  a  point  that 
everybody  boldly  contravenes  the  king's  interdic- 
tions; that  there  is  no  longer  any  concealment; 
and  that  parties  are  collected  with  astonishing  in- 
dolence to  go  and  trade  in  the  Indian  country.  I 
liavo  done  all  in  my  power  to  prevent  this  evil, 
whieli  may  cause  the  ruin  of  the  colony.  I  have 
enacted  ordinances  against  the  courcurs  de  hols ; 
against  the  merchants  who  furnish  them  with  goods ; 
against  the  gentlemen  and  others  who  harbor  them, 
and  even  against  those  who  have  any  knowledge 
of  them,  and  will  not  inform  the  local  judges.  .^All 
has  been  in  vain ;  inasmuch  as  some  of  the  most 
considerable  families  are  interested  with  them,  and 
the  governor  lets  them  go  on  and  even  shares 
their  profits."^  ''You  are  aware,  monseigneur," 
writes  Denonville,  some  years  later,  "  that  the 
mweiirs  de  hois  are  a  great  evil,,  but  you  are  not 
aware  how  great  this  evil  is.^/lt  deprives  the 
country  of  its  effective  men ;  makes  them  indocile, 
debauched,  and  incapable  of  discipline,  and  turns 
them  into  pretended  nobles,  wearing  the  sword 
and  decked  out  with  lace,  both  they  and  their 
relations,  who  all  affect  to  be  gentlemen  and  ladies. 
As  for  cultivating  the  soil,  they  will  not  Lear  of  it.^, 


Li'  Roi/  a  Frontenac,  30  Avril,  1081.     On  another  occasion,  it  was 
oiJered  that  any  n«^rc,un  tiius  offending  should  sutler  death. 
-  N.  Y.  Colonial  Docs,,  IX.  131. 


312 


TRADE  AND   INDUSTRY. 


[16(;3-17C3. 


\y- 


his,  along  with  the  scattered  condition  of  the 
settlements,  canses  their  chil(h-en  to  be  as  uiimlv 
as  Indians,  being  brought  up  in  the  same  iniiiun'i'. 
Not  that  there  are  not  some  very  good  people  lu  iv. 
but  they  are  in  a  minority."  ^  In  another  desj»;it(li 
he  enlarges  on  their  vagabond  and  Liwless  ways. 
their  indifference  to  marriage,  and  the  miscliiet 
caused  by  their  example;  describes  how,  on  their 
return  from  the  woods,  they  swagger  like  lords. 
spend  all  their  gjuns  in  dress  and  drunken  revehT, 
and  despise  the  peasants,  whose  daughteis  the}- 
will  not  deign  to  marry,  though  they  are  peasants 
themselves.  "^""     "" 

It  was  a  curious  scene  wdien  a  party  of  coiinur.s 
cle  hois  returned  from  their  rovings.  Montreal 
was  their  harboring  place,  and  they  conducted 
themselves  much  like  the  crew  of  a  man-of-war 
paid  off  after  a  long  voyage.  As  long  as  their 
beaver-skins  lasted,  they  set  no  bounds  to  their 
riot.  Every  house  in  the  place,  we  are  told,  was 
turned  into  a  drinking  shop.  The  new-comers 
were  bedizened  with  a  strange  mixture  of  Froiudi 
and  Indian  finery ;  while  some  of  them,  with  in- 
stincts more  thoroughly  savage,  stalked  about  the 
streets  as  naked  as  a  Pottawattamie  or  a  8ioiix. 
The  clamor  of  tongues  w^as  prodigious,  and  gam- 
bling and  drinking  filled  the  day  and  the  night. 
When  at  last  they  w^ere  sober  again,  they  sought 
absolution  for  their  sins ;  nor  could  the  priests 
venture  to  bear  too  hard  on  their  unruly  penitents, 


1  Denonville,  M^inoire  sur  VEdat  des  Affaires  de  la  Nouvelle  France. 


1003-1 T03.] 


THE   COUREURS   DE   BOIS. 


313 


Nouvelle  Fiance. 


It'st  tliey  slioiild  break  >vliolly  with  the  church  and 
(li-iponse  thenceforth  with  her  sacranients*_.. 
;  Under  such  leaders  as  Du  Lhut,  the  coureiirs  de 
hois  built  forts  of  palisades  at  various  points 
throughout  the  West  and  Northwest.  They  had 
a  post  of  this  sort  at  Detroit  some  time  before  its 
puniianent  settlement,  as  well  as  others  on  Lake 
Nipc'i'ior  and  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi.  Tliey 
occupied  them  as  long  as  it  suited  their  })urposes, 
and  then  abandoned  them  to  the  next  comer^ 
Micliillimackinac  was,  however,  their  chief  resort; 
and  thence  ^tliey  would  set  out,  two  or  three 
together,  to'^'^roam  for  hundreds  of  miles  through 
the  endless  meshwork  of  interlocking  lakes  and 
livers  which  seams  the  northern  wilderness. 

No  wonder  that  a  year  or  two  of  bush-ranging 
spoiled  them  for  civilization. S  Though  not  a  very 
valuable  member  of  society,  and  though  a  thorn 
in  the  side  of  princes  and  rulers,  the  coureur  de 
hols  had  his  uses,  at  least  from  an  artistic  point  of 
view;  and  his  strange  figure,  sometimes  brutally 
ravage,  but  oitener  marked  with  the  lines  of  a 
dare-devil  courage,  and  a  reckless,  thoughtless 
gayety,  will  ahvays  be  joined  to  the  memories  of 
that  grand  world  of  w^oods  which  the  nineteenth 
century  is  fast  civilizing  out  of  existence.  At  least, 
he  is  picturesque,  and  with  his  red-skin  companion 
serves  to  animate  forest  scenery./ Perhaps  he  could 
sometimes  feel,  without  knowing  that  he  felt  them, 
the  charms  of  the  savage  nature  that  had  adopted 
him.  Rude  as  he  was,  her  voice  may  not  always 
have   been   meaningless   for   one  who   knew  her 


3U 


TRADE   AND   INDUSTRY. 


11CC3-17C3. 


*? 


1^ 
I 


fe    * 


'^■ii 


liaunts  so  well  ;  floop  recesses  where,  veil('(l  in 
fol'iMge,  some  wild  shy  rivulet  steals  with  limid 
music  through  hreatliless  caves  of  verdure;  uulfs 
where  feathered  crags  rise  like  castle  walls,  w  hero 
the  noonday  sun  pierces  with  keen  rays  iithwiut 
the  torrent,  and  the  mossed  arms  of  fallen  [dues 
cast  wavering  shadows  on  the  illumined  foam ; 
pools  of  liquid  crystal  turned  emerald  in  the  re- 
flected green  of  im])ending  woods;  rocks  on  whose 
rugged  frout  the  gleam  of  sunlit  waters  daiicos  in 
quivering  liglit;  ancient  trees  hurled  headloiii;-  hy 
the  storm  to  dam  the  raging  stream  with  their 
forlorn  and  savage  ruin ;  or  the  stern  depths  of 
immemorial  forests,  dim  and  silent  as  a  caveni, 
colunnied  with  innumerahle  trunks,  each  like  an 
Atlas  upholding  its  world  of  leaves,  and  sweating 
perpetual  moisture  down  its  dark  and  chanuelliMl 
rind ;  some  strong  in  youth,  some  grisly  with 
decrei)it  age,  nightmares  of  strange  distortion. 
gnarled  and  knotted  with  wens  and  goitres; 
roots  intertwined  beneath  like  serpents  petrilied 
in  an  agony  of  contorted  strife  ;  green  am] 
glistening  mosses  carpeting  the  rough  ground, 
mantling  the  rocks,  turning  pulpy  stumps  to 
mounds  of  verdure,  and  swathing  fallen  trunks 
as  bent  in  the  impotence  of  rottenness,  the}"  lie 
outstretched  over  knoll  and  hollow,  like  moulder- 
ing reptiles  of  the  primeval  world,  while  around. 
and  on  and  through  them,  springs  the  }oiuig 
growth  that  battens  on  their  decay,  —  the  forest 
devouring  its  own  dead.  Or,  to  turn  from  its 
funereal  shade  to  the  light  and  life  of  the  open 


ill 


ii>]a-;i03  j 


LlCTTKH    OF   CAKIIKIL. 


31. 


\vo()(ll;iii<l.  the  slieen  of  sparkling  lakes,  and  moiint- 
;iiii<^  ItMsking  in  the  glory  of  the  sunnnei*  noon, 
l!tcki'(l  hy  the  shadows  of  passing  clouds  that  sail 
on  snowy  wings  across  the  transparent  azure. 
/Yot  it  would  be  false  coloring  to  paint  the 
!i;ilf-snvage  coureifr  de  hois  as  a  romantic  lover 
lit  nature.  lie  liked  the  woods  because  they 
inianci[)ated  him  from  restraint.  lie  liked  the 
loimuiiig  ease  of  the  cam[)-(lre,  and  the  license  of 
Indian  villages.  His  life  has  a  dark  and  ugly  side^ 
which  is  nowhere  drawn  more  strongly  than  in  a 
letter  written  by  the  Jesuit  Carheil  to  the  intend- 
iint  Cliampigny.  It  was  at  a  time  when  some  of 
the  outlying  forest  posts,  originally  cither  missions 
or  transient  stations  of  conrcurs  de  hois,  had  re- 
ceived reiLuL'ir  garrisons.  Carheil  writes  from 
Mieliillimackinac,  and  describes  the  state  of  things 
around  him  like  one  whom  long  familiarity  with 
them  had  stripped  of  every  illusion. 

But  here,  for  the  present,  we  pause  ;  for  the 
father  touches  on  other  matters  than  the  coiireiirs 
k  hois,  and  we  reserve  liini  and  liis  letter  for  the 
next  chapter. 


-  -a 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

1GG3-1702. 
THE  MISSIONS.    THE  BRANDY  QUESTION. 
The  Jesuits  and  the  Iroquois.  —  Mission  Villagks. —  Miciiilli- 

JIACKINAC.  —  FaTIIKR     CaRIIKIL.  —  TkMI'ERANCE.  —  BUANUV    AND 

THE  I.,i)iANS.  —  Strong    Measl'res.  —  Disputes.  —  liicENSE  and 
Prohibition.  —  Views  of  the  Kino.  —  Tuade  and  the  Jesuits. 

For  a  year  or  two  after  De  Tracy  had  cliastiscd 
the  MoliJiwks,  and  hLuiibled  the  otlier  Iroquois 
nations,  all  was  rose  color  on  the  side  oL  that 
dreaded  confederacy.  The  Jesuits,  defiant  as  usual 
of  hardship  and  death,  had  begun  their  ruiui'd 
liissions  anew.  Bruyas  took  the  Mission  of  tlie 
Martyrs  among  the  Mohawks ;  Milet,  that  of  Saint 
Francis  Xavier,  among  the  Oneidas ;  Lambervillo, 
that  of  Saint  John  the  Baptist  among  the  Onon- 
dagas ;  Carheil,  that  of  Saint  Joseph  among  the 
Cayugas ;  and  Raifeix  and  Julien  Garnier  shariMl 
between  them  the  three  missions  of  the  Senecas. 
The  Iroquois,  after  their  punishment,  were  in  a 
frame  of  mind  so  hopeful,  that  the  fathers  iniagiiK'I 
for  a  moment  that  they  were  all  on  the  point  of 
accepting  the  faith.  This  was  a  consunuiiatiun 
earnestly  to  be  wished,  not  only  from  a  religious. 
but   also   from   a   political   point   of   view.     Tiie 


15G3-1702.]     THE  JESUITS   AND  THE  IROQUOIS. 


3r 


UESTION. 


uf   view.     Tli*i 


complete  conversion  of  the  Troqnois  meant  their 
estrangement  from  the  heretic  Enghsh  and  Dutch, 
and  their  firm  alliance  ^vith  the  French.  It  meant 
<afetv  for  Canada,  and  it  ensured  for  her  the  fur 
trade  of  the  interior  freed  from  English  rivalry. 
Hence  the  importance  of  these  missions,  and  hence 
ilieir  double  character.  While  the  Jesuit  toiled 
to  convert  his  savage  hosts,  he  watched  them  at 
the  same  time  with  the  eye  of  a  shrewd  politicjil 
agent ;  reported  at  Quebec  the  result  of  his  obser- 
vations, and  by  every  means  in  his  power  sought 
to  alienate  them  from  England,  and  attach  them 
to  France. 

Their  simple  conversion,  by  placing  them  wholly 
under  his  influence,  would  have  outweighed  in 
political  value  all  other  agencies  combined ;  but 
the  flattering  hopes  of  the  earlier  years  soon  van- 
i>lie(l.  Some  petty  successes  against  other  tribes 
so  elated  the  Iroquois,  that  they  ceased  to  care  for 
French  alliance  or  French  priests.  Then  a  few 
petty  reverses  would  dash  their  spirits,  and  dispose 
them  aiirain  to  listen  to  Jesuit  counsels.  Everv 
success  of  a  war-party  was  a  loss  to  the  faith,  and 
every  reverse  was  a  gain.  Meanwhile  a  more  re- 
pulsive or  a  more  critical  existence  than  that  of  a 
Jesuit  father  in  an  Iroquois  town  is  scarcely  con- 
(eivable.  The  torture  of  prisoners  turned  into  a 
horrilde  festivity  for  the  whole  tribe ;  foul  and 
crazy  orgies  in  which,  as  the  priest  thought,  the 
powers  of  darkness  took  a  special  delight ;  drunken 
riots,  the  work  of  Dutch  l)raiidv,  wlieu  he  was 
forced  to  seek  refuge  from  death  in  his  chapel, — 


318 


THE  MISSIONS.    BRANDY  QUESTION.    [Vm-m-:. 


m 


a  sanctuary  which  superstitious  fear  withheld  tji,. 
Indians  from  vioLating  ;  these,  and  a  thousand  dis- 
gusts and  miseries,  fdled  the  record  of  his  da  vs. 
and  he  bore  them  all  in  patience.  Not  only  weic 
the  early  Canadian  Jesuits  men  of  an  intent' 
religious  zeal,  but  they  were  also  men  who  lived 
not  for  themselves  but  for  their  order.  Tluii 
faults  were  many  and  great,  but  the  grandeur  of 
their  self-devotion  towers  conspicuous  over  all. 

At  Cauglmawaga,  near  Montreal,  may  still  he 
seen  the  remnants  of  a  mission  of  converted  Iro- 
quois, whom  the  Jesuits  induced  to  leave  the 
temptations  of  their  native  towns  and  settle  lu-iv. 
mider  the  wing  of  the  church.  They  sei'\  ed  as  ;i 
bulwark  against  the  English,  and  sometimes  did 
good  service  in  time  of  war.  At  Silleiy,  near 
Quebec,  a  band  of  Abenaquis,  escaping  from  the 
neio:hborliood  of  the  Endisli  towards  the  close  ol 
Philip's  War,  formed  another  mission  of  similar 
character.  The  Sulpitians  had  a  third  at  the  foot  ol 
the  mountain  of  Montreal,  where  two  massive  st<  Me 
towers  of  the  fortified  Indian  town  are  standing  lu 
this  day.  All  these  converted  savages,  as  well  as 
those  of  Lorette  and  other  missions  far  and  near. 
were  used  as  allies  in  war,  and  launched  in  scalping 
parties  against  the  border  settlements  of  ^e\v 
England. 

Not  only  the  Sulpitians,  but  also  the  seniinan 
priests  of  Quebec,  the  Eecollets,  and  even  the  Ca- 
puchins, had  missions  more  or  less  important,  ami 
more  or  less  permanent;  but  the  Jesuits  stood 
always  in  the  van  of  religious  and  political  propa- 


CSTION.    [mZAliy:. 


lt;63-1702.] 


MICHILLIMACKINAC. 


319 


political  prui'^i-  ■  debuucheiy." 


(rand ism ;  and  all  tlie  forest  tribes  felt  their  influence, 
from  Acadia  and  Maine  to  the  plains  beyond  the 
Mississippi.  Next  in  import/wice  to  their  Iroquois 
inissions  were  those  among^he  Algonquins  of  the 
northern  lakes.  Here  was  the  grand  domain  of 
the  beaver  trade ;  and  the  chief  woes  of  the  mis- 
sionary sprang  not  from  the  Indians,  but  from  his 
own  countrymen.  Beaver-skins  had  produced  an 
effect  akin  to  that  of  gold  in  oiu'  own  day,  and  the 
deepest  recesses  of  the  wilderness  were  invaded  by 
eager  seekers  after  gain.  The  focus  of  the  evil 
Wiis  at  Father  Marquette's  old  mission  of  JVIicJiiUi- 
mackinac.  First,  year  after  year  came  a  riotous 
invasion  of  coureurs  de  hois,  and  then  a  garrison 
followed  to  crown  the  mischief.  Discipline  Avas 
very  weak  at  these  advanced  posts,  and,  to  eke 
out  their  pay,  the  soldiers  were  allowed  to  trade ; 
brandy,  whether  permitted  or  interdicted,  being 
the  chief  article  of  barter.  Father  Etienne  Carheil 
was  driven  almost  to  despair  ;  and  he  wrote  to  the 
intendant,  his  fast  friend  and  former  pupil,  the  long 
letter  already  mentioned.  "  Our  missions,"  he 
ms,  "  are  reduced  to  such  extremity  that  we  can 
no  longer  maintain  them  against  the  infinity  of 
disorder,  brutality,  violence,  injustice,  impiety, 
impurity,  insolence,  scorn,  and  insult,  which  the 
deploi'able  and  infamous  trallic  in  brandy  has 
spread  universallv  anions^  the  Indians  of  these 
piu'ts.  ...  In  the  despair  in  which  we  are  ])lunged, 
nothing  remains  for  us  but  to  abandon  them  to  the 
hrandy  sellers  as  a  domain  of  drunkenness  and 


*7 


;2o 


THE  MISSIONS.    BRANDY  QUESTION.     [1003-1702, 


«f-i 


W"^  He  complains  bitterly  of  the  officers  in  cominar.f] 
of  the  fort,  who,  he  says,  far  from  repressin"-  dis- 
orders, encourage  them  by  their  example,  and  a  re 
even  worse  than  their  subordinates,  ^'  insomucli  that 
all  our  Indian  villages  are  so  many  taverns  for 
drunkenness  and  Sodoms  for  iniijuity,  which  wc 
shall  be  forced  to  leave  to  the  just  wrath  and  ven- 
geance of  God."  He  insists  that  the  garrisons  are 
entirely  useless,  as  they  have  only  four  occupa- 
tions :  first,  to  keep  open  liquor  shops  for  crowds 
of  drunken  Indians ;  secondly,  to  roam  from  place 
to  place,  carrying  goods  ai  d  brandy  under  the 
orders  of  the  commandant,  who  shares  their  profits; 
thirdly,  to  gamble  day  and  night;  fourthly,  to  "  turn 
the  fort  into  a  place  which  I  am  ashamed  to  call 
by  its  right  name ; "  and  he  describes,  with  a  curious 
amplitude  of  detail,  the  swarms  of  Indian  girls  who 
are  hired  to  make  it  their  resort.  "  Such,  mon- 
seigneur,  are  the  only  employments  of  the  soldiers 
maintained  here  so  many  years.  ^  If  this  can  he 
called  doing  the  king  service,  i  admit  that  sudi 
service  is  done  for  him  here  now,  and  has  always 
been  done  for  him  here  ;  but  I  never  saw  any  otlii  i 
done  in  my  life."/  He  further  declares  that  the 
commandants  oppose  and  malign  the  missionaries. 
while  of  the  presents  which  the  king  sends  up 
the  country  for  distribution  to  the  Indians,  they,  the 
Indians,  get  nothing  but  a  little  tobacco,  and  the 
officer  keeps  the  rest  for  himself.'  _J, 

/-'  '  Of  the  olTu'ors  in  command  at  Michillimacklnac  wliile  Carl;vil  \v;b 
there,  lie  iJariiaUy  excepts  La  Diirantaye  from  liLs  strictures,  but  lioar- 
very  luird  on  La  Motte-Cadillac,  wlio  liatcd  tlie  Jesuits  and  was  hiitocl  liy 
thciu  in  turn.     La  Motte,  on  liis  part,  writes  tiuit  "  the  missionaric!!  wish 


riON.    [inr,;M702. 


lo63-l  702.1 


MICHILLIMACKINAC. 


321 


the  missionaries  wish 


/From  the  misconduct  of  officers  and  soldiers,  he 
passes  to  that  of  the  cmireurs  de  hois  and  hcensed 
traders ;  and  here  he  is  equally  severe.  He  dilates 
on  th"  evils  which  result  from  permitting  the  colo- 
nists to  go  to  the  Indians  instead  of  requiring  the 
Indians  to  come  to  the  settlements.  "  It  serves 
only  to  rob  the  country  of  all  its  young  men,  weaken 
fcimilie^j^:cleprive  wives  of  their  husbands,  sisters  of 
tiieir  brothers,  .ai:  ^  parents  of  their  children;  expose 
the  voyagers  to  a  hundred  dangers  of  body  and 
,>«oul;  involve  them  in  a  multitude  of  expenses, 
some  necessary,  some  useless,  and  some  criminal ; 
accustom  them  to  do  no  work,  and  at  last  disgust 
tlieni  with  it  for  ever ;  make  them  live  in  constant 
idleness,  unfit  them  completely  for  any  trade,  and 
render  them  useless  to  themselves,  their  families, 
and  the  public.  But  it  is  less  as  regards  the  body 
than  as  regards  the  soul,  that  this  traffic  of  the 
French  among  the  savages  is  infinitely  hurtful.  It 
carries  them  far  away  from  churches,  separates 
them  from  priests  and  nuns,  and  severs  them  from 
all  instruction,  all  exercise  of  religion,  and  all 
spiritual  aid.  It  sends  them  into  places  wild  and 
almost  inaccessible,  through  a  thousand  perils  by 
liind  and  water,  to  carry  on  by  base,  abject,  and 
shameful  means  a  trade  which  would  much  better 
be  carried  on  at  Montreal."  ^ 

But  in   the  complete  transfer  of  the  trade  to 
Montreal,  he  sees  insuperable  difficulties,  and  he 

to  1)0  masters. wlieit'ver  tiiev  are,  and  cinnot  tolerate  anyhotly  above 
themselves. "5)  N.  Y.  ColoiiiMl  Doce.,  IX.  587.  For  niucii  more  emphatic 
expressions  of  his  views  concerning  them,  see  two  letters  from  him,  truus- 
Uted  in  Sheldon's  Early  History  of  Michigan. 

21 


322 


THE  MISSIONS.    BRANDY  QUESTION.     flGG3-1702. 


■11 
'4H 


^.4 


rt 


proceeds  to  suggest,  as  the  last  and  best  resort,  tliat 
garrisons  and  officers  should  be  withdrawn,  and 
licenses  abolished ;  that  discreet  and  virtuous  per- 
sons should  be  chosen  to  take  charge  of  all  the 
trade  of  the  upper  country ;  that  these  peiNons 
should  be  in  perfect  sympathy  and  correspondence 
with  the  Jesuits ;  and  ihat  the  trade  should  be 
carried  on  at  the  missions  of  the  Jesuits  and  in 
their  presence.^ 
(T^This  letter  brings  us  again  face  to  face  with  the 
brandy  question,  of  which  we  have  seen  something 
already  in  the  quarrel  between  Avaugour  and  the 
bishop.  In  the  summer  of  1648,  there  was  held 
at  the  mission  of  Sillery  a  temperance  meotinjj:; 
the  first  in  all  probability  on  this  continent.  The 
drum  beat  after  mass,  and  the  Indians  gathered  at 
the  summons.  Then  an  Algonquin  chief,  a  zealous 
convert  of  the  Jesuit'^;,  proclaimed  to  the  crowd  a 
late  edict  of  the  go\ernor  imposing  penalties  for 
drunkenness,  and,  in  his  own  name  and  that  ot 
the  other  chiefs,  exhorted  the^n  to  abstinence, 
declarino*  that  all  drunkards  should  be  handed  over 
to  the  French  for  punishment.  Father  Jerome 
Lalemant  looked  on  delighted.  "  It  was,"  he  says, 
"  the  finest  public  act  of  jurisdiction  exercised 
among  the  Indians  since  I  have  been  in  this  coun- 
try. From  the  beginning  of  the  world  they  have 
all  thought  themselves  as  great  lords,  the  one  as 
the  other,  and  never  before  submitted  to  their 
chiefs  any  further  than  they  chose  to  do  so."^ 

1  Lr:ttre  <lii  Pl'ir  Eticnne  Carlieil  de  la  Cnmpaijnie  de  J^siis  a  I'lnkndani 
Chrtmpl(jni/,  Michilllmitckinac,  80  Aoul,  1702  (Archives  Nationalet). 
'^  Lalemant,  ReL,  1048,  p.  43. 


ITION.    [1063-1702. 


1663-1702.1 


BRANDY  AND  THE  INDIANS. 


323 


)  face  with  the 


chief,  a  zealous 


There  was  great  need  of  reform ;  for  a  demon 
of  drunkenness  seemed  to  possess  these  unhappy 
tribes.  Nevertheless,  with  all  their  rage  for  brand y, 
tliev  sometimes  showed  in  reo-ard  to  it  a  self-con- 
trol  quite  admirable  in  its  "svay.  When  at  a  fair, 
a  council,  or  a  friendly  visit,  their  entertainers 
regaled  them  with  rations  of  the  coveted  liquor, 
so  prudently  measured  out  that  they  could  not  be 
the  worse  for  it,  they  would  unite  their  several  por- 
tions in  a  common  stock,  which  they  would  then 
divide  among  a  few  of  their  number,  thus  enabling 
them  to  attain  that  complete  intoxication  which,  in 
their  view,  was  the  true  end  of  all  drinking.  The 
objects  of  this  singular  benevolence  Avere  expected 
to  requite  it  in  kind  on  some  future  occasion. 
j^A  drunken  Indian  with  weapons  within  reach, 
was  very  dangerous,  and  all  prudent  persons  kept 
out  of  his  way.  This  greatly  pleased  him ;  for, 
seeing  everybody  run  before  him,  he  fancied  him- 
self a  great  chief,  and  howled  and  swung  his  toma- 
hawk with  redoubled  fury.  If,  as  often  happened, 
he  maimed  or  murdered  some  wretch  not  nimble 
enough  to  escape,  his  countrymen  absolved  him 
from  all  guilt,  and  blamed  only  the  brandy.  Hence, 
if  an  Indian  washed  to  take  a  safe  revenge  on  some 
personal  enemy,  he  would  pretend  to  be  drunk  ; 
and.  not  only  murders  but  other  crimes  were  often 
committed  by  false  claimants  to  the  bacchannlian 
privilege. 

In  the  eyes  of  the  missionaries,  brandy  was  a 
fiend  with  all  crimes  and  miseries  in  his  train ; 
and^  In  fact,  nothing  earthly  could  better  deserve 


T" 


324 


THE  MISSIONS.    BRANDY  QUESTION.      [1CC3-1702 


^1 


f., 


^i 


the  epithet  infernal  than  an  Indian  town  in 
the  height  of  a  drunken  debauch.  The  ov^^m 
never  ceased  till  the  bottom  of  the  barrel  was 
reached.  Then  came  repentance,  despair,  wallintr^ 
and  bitter  invective  against  the  white  men,  the 
cause  of  all  the  woe,  ^  In  the  name  of  the  i)iiljlic 
good,  of  humanity,  and  above  all  of  religion,  the 
bishop  and  the  Jesuits  denounced  the  fatal  tndlic. 

Their  case  was  a  strong  one ;  but  so  was  the 
case  of  their  opponents.  There  was  real  and  iiiiiiii- 
nent  danger  that  the  thirsty  savages,  if  refused 
brandy  by  the  French,  would  seek  it  from  the 
Dutch  and  English  of  New  York.  It  was  the  most 
potent  lure  and  the  most  killing  bait.  Wherever 
it  was  found,  thither  the  Indians  and  their  beaver- 
skins  were  sure  to  go,  and  the  interests  of  the  fur 
trade,  vital  to  the  colony,  were  bound  up  with  it. 
Nor  was  this  all,  for  the  merchants  and  the  civil 
powers  insisted  that  religion  and  the  saving  of 
souls  were  bound  up  wdth  it  no  less ;  since,  to  repel 
the  Indians  from  the  Catholic  French,  and  attract 
them  to  the  heretic  English,  was  to  turn  them  from 
Avays  of  grace  to  ways  of  perdition.^  The  argu- 
ment, no  doubt,  was  dashed  largely  with  hypocrisy 
in  those  who  used  it ;  but  it  was  one  which  the 
priests  were  greatly  perplexed  to  answer. 

In  former  days,  w  hen  Canada  was  not  yet  trans- 
formed from  a  mission  to  a  colony,  the  Jesuits 
entered  with  a  high  hand  on  the  work  of  reform. 

1  "  Ce  commerce  est  absolument  nccessiiire  pour  attirer  les  saiivnges 
dans  les  colonies  fran9oises,  et  par  ce  moyen  leur  donner  les  premieres 
teintures  <le  la  foy."  M^moire  de  Colbert,  joint  a  sa  lettre  a  JJuchesiieau  du 
24  Mai,  1678. 


I 
'I 


ION.      11CC3-1702 


1663-1702.] 


STRONG  MEASURES. 


325 


It  fared  hard  with  the  culprit  caught  in  the  act 
of  selling  brandy  to  Indians.  They  led  him,  after 
the  sermonj  to  the  door  of  the  church ;  where,  kneel- 
ing on  the  pavement,  partially  stript  and  bearing 
in  his  hand  the  penitential  torch,  he  underwent  a 
vigorous  flagellation,  laid  on  by  Father  Le  Mercier 
himself,  after  the  fashion  formerly  practised  in  the 
case  of  refractory  school-boys.^  BishojD  JjOj^iiLnot 
only  discharged  against  the  offenders  volleys  of 
wholesale  exconnrnmication,  but  he  made  of  the 
offence  a  "  reserved  case  ; !'  that  is,  a  case  in  which 
the  power  of  granting  absolution  was  reserved  to 
himself  alone.  This  produced  great  commotion,  and 
a  violent  conflict  between  religious  scruples  and  a 
passion  for  gain.  The  bishop  and  the  Jesuits  stood 
inflexible ;  while  their  opponents^dded  bitterness 
to  the  quarrel  by  charging  them  with  permitting 
certain  favored  persons  to  sell  brandy,  unpunished, 
and  even  covertly  selling  it  themselves.^  < 

'  M^inoire  de  Dumcsnil,  1671. 

■  Lettra  de  Charles  Aiibert  de  la  Chesnaye,  24  Oct.,  1693.  After  speak- 
inp;  of  tlie  excessive  rigor  of  tlie  bishop,  he  adds  :  "  L'on  (lit,  et  il  est  vrai, 
que  (laiis  ces  temps  si  fucheux,  sous  pre'texte  de  pauvrete'  dans  les  families, 
tertiiincs  gens  avoient  permission  d'en  traiter,  je  crois  toujours  avee  la 
reserve  de  ne  pas  enivrer."  Dumesnil,  M<fiiioire  de  1671,  says  tiiat  Laval 
excnnnnunicated  all  brandy-sellers,  "a  I'exception,  ne'anmoins,  de  qiiel- 
ques  particuliers  qu'il  voulait  favoriser."  He  says  furtlier  that  the  bisliop 
and  tiie  Jesuit  Kagueneau  had  a  clerk  wiiom  they  employed  at  500  francs 
a  year  to  trade  with  tlie  Indians,  paying  them  in  liquors  for  tlieir  furs; 
and  that  for  a  time  tlie  ecclesiastics  liad  tliis  trade  to  tiiemsolvcs,  their 
severities  liaving  deterred  most  others  from  venturing  into  it.  La  Salle, 
Me'iii'iiie  de  1678,  declares  that,  "lis  (les  , /^suites)  refusent  I'absoiution  h 
ceux  qui  ne  veulent  pas  promettre  de  n'en  plus  vendre,  et  s'ils  iiieurent  en 
cet  otat,  ils  les  privent  de  la  sepulture  ecclosiastique :  au  contraire,  lis  so 
permettent  a  eux  mesmes  sans  aucune  ditticulte'ce  mesme  trafic,  quoyque 
toute  sorte  de  trafic  soit  interdite  a  tons  les  ecclo'siastiques  par  les  ordon- 
nances  du  Roy  et  par  une  bulle  expresse  du  Pape."  I  give  tliese  asser- 
tions as  I  find  them,  and  for  what  they  are  worth. 


'■'>« 


\ii 


m 


\i 


'S      r 


326 


THE  MISSIONS.     BRANDY  QUESTION.     11003-1702. 


^  Appeal  was  made  to  the  krngj.  wlio,  with  his 
Jesuit  confessor,  guardian  of  his  conscience  on  one 
side,  and  Colbert^  guardian  of  his  worldly  interests 
on  the  other,  stood  in  some  perplexity.     The  easo 
was  refei'red  to  the  fathers  of  the  Sorbonnc,  and 
they,  after  solemn  discussion,  pronounced  the  sell- 
ing of  brandy   to  Indians  a  mortal  sin.^     It  was 
next  referred  to  an  assembly  of  the  chief  mer- 
chants and  inhabitants  of  Canada,  held  under  the 
eye  of  the  governor,  intendant,  ard  council,  in  the 
Chateau  St.  Louis.     Each  was  directed  to  state  his 
views  in  writing.     The   great  majority  were  for 
unrestricted  trade  in   brandy ;  a  few   were  for  a 
limited  and  guarded  trade;  and  two  or  three  de- 
clared  for  jprohibition.^      Decrees    of    prohibition 
were  passed  from  time"  to  time,  but  they  were  un- 
availing.    They  were  revoked,  renewed,  and  re- 
voked  again.     They   were,   in  fact,   worse   than 
useless ;  for  their  chief  effect  was  to  turn  traders 
and  coureitrs  de  hois  into  troops  of  audacious  con- 
trabandists.    Attempts  were   made   to   limit  the 
brandy  trade  to  the  settlements,  and  exclude  it 
from  the  forest  country,  where  its  regulation  was 
impossible ;  but  these   attempts,  like   the  others, 
were  of  little  avail.     It  is  worthy  of  notice  that, 
when  brandy  was  forbidden  everywhere  else,  it 
was  permitted  in  the  trade  of  Tadoussac,  carried 
on  for  the  profit  of  government.^ 


c 


1  IMihtfrntion  dc  la  Snrbonne  siir  la  Traife  des  Boissons,  8  Mars,  1G75. 

2  Proces-vcrhal  de  I' Assfmlde'e  tenue  au  Chateau  de  St.  Louis  de  Que'btc,  le 
26  Oct.,  1676,  et  jours  suivants.  ,1 

3  Lettre  de  Charles  Aubert  de  la  Chesnai/e,  24  Oct.,  1693.     In  tlie  course 
of  the  quarrel  a  severe  law  passed  by  the  General  Court  of  MassacliU' 


ION.     IKiG.VlTOa. 


1663-n02.1 


VIEWS   OF  THE   KING. 


327 


i^ho,  wltli  Ills 


In  spite  of  the  Sorborine,  in  spite  of  Pere  La 
Chaise,  and  of  the  Archbishop  of  Paris,  whom  he 
also  consulted,  the  king  was  never  at  heart  a  pro- 
hibitionist.^ His  Canadian  revenue  was  drawn 
fioiu  the  fur  trade  ;  and  the  singular  argument  of 
the  partisans  of  brandy,  that  its  attractions  were 
needed  to  keep  the  Indians  from  contact  with 
heresy,  served  admirably  to  salve  his  conscience. 
Bigot  as  he  was,  he  distrusted  the  Bishop  of 
Quebec,  the  great  champion  of  the~anti-liquor 
movement.  His  own  letters,  as  well  as  those  of 
his  minister,  prove  that  he  saw  or  thought  that  he 
saw  motives  for  the  crusade  very  different  from 
those  inscribed  on  its  banners.  He  wrote  to  Saint- 
Vallier,  Laval's  successor  in  the  bishopric,  that  the 
brandy  trade  was  very  useful  to  the  kingdom  of 
France ;  that  it  should  be  regulated,  but  not  pre- 
vented ;  that  the  consciences  of  his  subjects  must 
not  be  disturbed  by  denunciations  of  it  as  a  sin ; 
and  that  ''it  is  well  that  you  [the  hishoj))  should 
take  care  that  the  zeal  of  the  ecclesiastics  is  not 
excited  by  personal  interests  and  passions."^  Per- 
haps he  alludes  to  the  spirit  of  encroachment  and 
domination  which  he  and  his  minister  in  secret 
instructions  to  their  officers  often  impute  to  the 
bishop  and  the  clergy,  or  perhaps  he  may  have  in 
mind  other  accusations   which  had   reached  him 


setts  apiiinst  the  sale  of  liquors  to  Indicans  was  several  times  urped  as  an 
example  to  be  imitated.  A  copy  of  it  was  sent  to  the  minister,  and  is 
still  preserved  in  tlie  Archives  oftlie  Marine  and  Colonies. 

'  See,  among  other  evidence,  M^iiioir^  sur  la  Traite  des  Boissons, 
1678. 

^  Le  Roy  a  Saint-Vallier,  7  Avril,  1691. 


328 


THE  MISSIONS,     BRANDY  QUESTION.    [m?,-m'i 


V         :'1 


from  time  to  time  during  many  years,  and  of  wliich 
the  following  from  the  pen  of  the  most  not(Ml  of 
Canadian  governors  will  serve  as  an  exiiiupjo. 
Count  Frontenac  jleclares  that  the  Jesuits  gicjitiy 
exaggerate  the  disorders  caused  by  brjnid}-,  iind 
that  they  easily  convince  persons  "  who  do  not 
know  the  interested  motives  which  have  lod  tlieiii 
to  harp  continually  on  this  string  for  more  than 
forty  years.  .  .  .  They  have  long  wished  to  have 
the  fur  trade  entirely  to  themselves,  and  to  keep 
out  of  sight  the  trade  which  they  have  always 
carried  on  in  the  woods,  and  which  they  are  cany- 
ing  on  there  now."  ^ 


»te- 


TiiADE  OF  THE  Jesuits.  —  As  I  have  observed  in  a  former 
volume,  the  charge  against  the  Jesuits  of  tra(hng  in  beaver-skins 
dates  from  the  begimiing  of  the  co\ox\^^^hi  the  private  journal  of 
Father  Jerome  Lalemant,  their  sujierior,  occurs  tlie  following 
curious  passage,  under  date  of  November,  1G45:  '■'■  Pour  hi  iraiie 
des  castors.  Le  1")  de  Nov.  le  bruit  estant  (j^u'on  s'en  alloit  icy 
publier  ha  defense  qui  auoit  este  pubUee  aux  Trois  Riuicn'S  que 
pas  vn  n'eut  a  traiter  auec  les  sauuages,  le  P.  Vimont  denianda  a 
Mons.  des  Chastelets  coinmis  general  si  nous  serious  de  pirc  con- 
dition soubs  eux  que  soubs  Messieurs  de  la  Conipagnie.  La  con- 
clusion fut  que  non  ct  fjue  cela  irolt  pour  nous  a  I' ordinaire,  mtii.f  (juc 
tiuus  le  fissions  tloucemenf.'"  Journal  defi  Jesuifes/rTwo  years  after. 
on  tlie  request  of  Lalemant,  the  governor  Montmagny,  and  his 
destined  successor  Aillebout,  gave  the  Jesuits  a  certificate  to  the 
effect  thaf^  les  peres  de  la  conipagnie  de  Jesus  sont  innocents  de 
la  calomnie  qui  leur  a  ete  imputee,  et  ce  quUU  en  ont  fait  a  eie  jwur 
le  hien  de  la  com.vunaute' et  pour  un  hon  sujet.*iCi  This  leaves  it  to  be 
inferred  that  they  actually  traded,  though  with  good  intentions. 
In  10(51,  in  reply  to  similar  "calumnies,"  tlie  Jesuits  made  by 
proxy  a  declaration  before  the  council,  stating,  "que  les  dits 
Reverends  Peres  Jesuites  n'ont  fait  jamais  ancune  profession  de 
vendre  et  n'ont  jamais  rien  vendu,  mais  seukment  que  les  marchan- 
discs  quails  donnent  aux  particuliers  ne  sont  que  pour  avoir  leurs 

1  Frontenac  au  Ministre,  29  Oct,,  1676. 


[ON.    [ir,r,?,-i702. 


1663-1702.] 


TRADE  OV   Tin:  JESUITS. 


329 


and  of  wliich 
lost  iiotcil  of 
an    exinuple. 

;suits   '••I'ciitly 
brand V,  iind 

•  ■ 

■  who  do  nut 
ave  led  tlitMii 
or  more  thiin 
ished  to  liave 
and  to  keop 
have  al^vavs 
Ley  are  cany- 


rved  in  a  former 
If  in  boavi'i'-skins 
private  journal  of 
irs   the   l'(jll()\viiig 
"  Pour  Id  Iniiie 
on  s'en  alloit  icy 
rois  Uiiiiercs  fine 
irnoiit  denianila  a 
ions  de  pire  con- 
pagnie.     La  cuu- 
mlinaire^  m<ii^  iptc 
ATwo  years  after. 
itinagny,  and  his 
certificate  to  tlie 
sont  innocents  tie 
on t  fait  a  eti pour 
Ids  leaves  it  to  be 
good  intentions. 
Jesuits  made  by 
que  les  dits 
me  profession  de 
t  que  les  marchan- 
pour  avoir  leurs 


y 


n'ti'esMirs.*^  This  is  an  admission  in  a  tldn  disguise.  The  word 
M'a'.«//e.v  is  of  very  elastic  interi)retation.  In  a  memoir  of  Talon, 
1(j(j7,  lie  mentions,  "  la  traite  de  i)elleteries  (jn'on  assure  qu'ils  {les 
Ji'mU's)  font  au.\  Outaouacks  et  au  Cap  de  la  Madeleine;  cc  que  jo 
lie  sais  pas  de  science  certaine." 

That  which  Talon  did  not  know  with  certainty  is  made  reason- 
,  ily  clear  for  us  by  a  lint  in  the  private  journal  of  Father  Lo 
MiTcier,  who  writes  under  (hite  of  17  August,  liW'),  "  Le  Pere 
I'lfuiiu  remonte  superieur  au  Cap  de  la  Magdeleine,  ou  le  temi)orel 
(st  en  l»on  estat.  Co/nine  il  est  delivre  de  tout  sain  d\iucunc  traite, 
il  (luit  s'appliuucr  a  rinstruction  tant  des  Montaguets  que  des 
Al,'i)n(|uins."'  Father  Charles  Albanel  was  charged,  under  Frd- 
liiiu,  with  the  affairs  of  the  mission,  including  doubtless  the  tem- 
]dral  interests,  to  the  prosperity  of  which  Father  Lc  Mercier 
alludes,  and  the  cares  of  trade  from  which  Father  Fremin  was 
ili'livored.'>  Cavelier  de  la  Salle  declared  in  1078,  "  Le  pere  Arba- 
uelle  {Albanel)  jesuite  a  traite  au  Cap  {<le  la  Madeleine)  pour  7U0 
pistoles  de  peaux  d'orignaux  et  de  castors;  luy  mesme  me  I'a  dit 
en  1007.  II  vend  le  pain,  le  viu,  le  bled,  le  lard,  et  il  tient  maga- 
zin  au  Cap  aussi  bien  que  lc  frere  Joseph  a  Quebec.  Ce  frere  gagne 
'M  pour  100  sur  tons  les  peuples.  lis  {les  Je'suites)  ont  bati  leur 
colli'ifo  en  partie  de  leur  traite  et  en  partie  de  renq)runt."'0^a 
balle  further  says  that  Fremin,  being  reported  to  have  made 
enormous  profits,S'  ce  pere  rejiondit  au  gouverncur  {i/ui  lui  en  arait 
fiiit  (les  plaintes)  par  un  billet  que  luy  a  conserve,  que  c'estoit  une 
calonuiie  que  ce  grand  gain  pretendu;  puisque  tout  ce  qui  se  passoit 
parses  mains  ne  pouvoit  produire  par  an  que  quatre  mille  le  reve- 
nant  bon,  tons  frais  faits,  sans  comprendre  les  gages  des  donies- 
tiques."'  La  Salle  gives  also  many  other  particulars,  especially 
relating  to  JMichillimackinac,  where,  as  he  says,  the  Jesuits  had  a 
lai'i;e  stock  of  beaver-skins.  According  to  Peronne  Dumesnil, 
Mi'mire  de  1071,  the  Jesuits  had  at  that  time  more  than  20,000 
francs  a  year,  partly  from  trade  and  partly  from  charitable  contri- 
butions of  their  friends  in  France. 

The  king  repeatedly  forbade  the  Jesuits  and  other  ecclesiastics 
in  Canada  to  carry  on  trade.S  On  one  occasion  he  threatened 
strong  measures  should  they  continue  to  disobey  him.  Le  lioi  a 
Frontcnac,  28  Avril,  1077.  In  the  same  year  the  minister  wrote  to 
the  intendant  Duchesneau  :  "  Vous  ne  sauriex  apporter  trop  de 
precautions  pour  abolir  entierement  la  coustume  que  les  Ecclesias- 
tiijues  seculiers  et  reguliers  avaient  pris  de  traitter  ou  de  faire 
traitter  leurs  valets,"  18  Avril,  1077. 

The  Jesuits  entered  also  into  other  branches  of  trade  and  in- 


330 


THE  MISSIONS.    BRANDY  QUESTION.    [1G63-1702. 


dustry  with  a  vigor  and  address  which  the  inhabitants  of  Canada 
might  have  emulated  with  advantage.:^  They  were  successful 
fishers  of  eels.  In  lOlG,  their  eel-pots  at  Sillery  are  said  to  have 
yielded  no  less  than  forty  thousand  eels,  some  of  which  they  sold 
at  the  modest  price  of  thirty  sous  a  hundred.  Ferlaud,  .\(,!es  sur 
les  lief/islres  de  N.  D.  de  Quebec^  82.'^/Jhe  members  of  the  order 
were  exempted  from  payment  of  duties,  and  in  1074  tluy  were 
specially  empowered  to  construct  mills,  including  sugar-mills,  aud 
keep  slaves,  apprentices ,  and  hired  servants.  ^Droit  Canaditn,  ISO. 


■,.-1 


TION.    [1663-1702. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

1663-1763. 

PRIESTS  AND  PEOPLE. 

Church  and  State.  —  The  Bishop  and  the  King.  —  The  Kino 
AND  the  Cures.  —  The  New  Bishop.  —  The  Canadian  Cuni:. — 
Ecclesiastical  Rule.  —  Saint- Valliek  and  Denonville.  — 
Clerical  Rigor.  —  Jesuit  and  Sulpitian.  —  Courcelle  and 
Chatelain.  —  The  Recollets.  —  Heresy  and  Witchcraft.  — 
Canadian  Nuns. — Jeanne  Le  Ber.  —  Education.  —  The  Sem- 
inary.—  Saint  Joachim.  —  Miracles  of  Saint  Anne. —  Cana- 
dian Schools. 


When  Laval  and  the  Jesuits  procured  the  recall 
of  Mezy,  they  achieved  a  seeming  triumph ;  yet  it 
was  but  a  defeat  in  disguise.  While  ordering  home 
the  obnoxious  governor,  the  king  and  Colbert 
made  a  practical  assertion  of  their  power  too 
strong  to  be  resisted.  A  vice-regal  officer,  a 
[I'ovenior,  an  intendant,  and  a  regiment  of  soldiers, 
were  silent  but  convincing  proofs  that  the  mission 
•lays  of  Canada  were  over,  and  the  dream  of  a 
tlieoci'acy  dispelled  for  ever.  The  ecclesiastics 
lead  the  signs  of  the  times,  and  for  a  while  seemed 
to  accept  the  situation. 

The  king  on  his  part,  in  vindicating  the  civil 
power,  had  shown  a  studious  regard  to  the  sensi- 
bilities  of   the   bishop  and   his  allies.     The  lieu- 


332 


PRIESTS  AND  PEOPLE. 


[1665-70. 


tenant-general  Tracy,  a  zealous  devotee,  and  the 
intendant  Talon,  who  at  least  professed  to  be  one, 
were  not  men  to  offend  the  clerical  party  need- 
lessly. In  the  choice  of  Courcelle,  the  governor, 
a  little  less  caution  had  been  shown.  His  chief 
business  was  to  fight  the  Iroquois,  for  wliicli  he 
was  well  fitted,  but  he  presently  showed  signs  of  a 
willingness  to  fight  the  Jesuits  also.  The  colonists 
liked  him  for  his  lively  and  impulsive  speech  ;  but 
the  priests  were  of  a  different  mind,  and  so,  too, 
was  his  colleague  Talon,  a  prudent  person  ^vho 
studied  the  amenities  of  life  and  knew  how  to 
pursue  his  ends  with  temper  and  moderation.  On 
the  subject  of  the  clergy  he  and  the  governor 
substantially  agreed,  but  the  ebullitions  of  the  one 
and  the  smooth  discretion  of  the  other  were  mut- 
ually repugnant  to  both.  Talon  comploined  of 
his  colleague's  impetuosity  j  and  Colbert  directed 
him  to  use  his  best  efforts  to  keep  Courcelle  within 
bounds  and  prevent  him  from  publicly  finding 
fault  with  the  bishop  and  the  Jesuits.^  Next  we 
find  the  minister  writing  to  Courcelle  himself  to 
soothe  his  ruffled  temper,  and  enjoining  him  to  act 
discreetly,  ''  because,"  said  Colbert,  "  as  the  colony 
grows  the  king's  authority  will  grow  with  it,  and 
the  authority  of  the  priests  will  be  brought  back 
m  time  wdthin  lawful  bounds."  ^ 

Meanwhile,  Talon  had  been  ordered  to  observe 
carefully  the  conduct  of  the  bishop  and  the  Jesuits, 
"  who,"  says  the  minister,  "  have  hitherto  nomi- 
nated governors  for   the    king,    and   used  every 

1  Colbert  a  Talon,  20  Fee,  1GG8.  '^  Colbert  a  Coincelle,  19  Mai,  1669. 


1665-70.] 


COURCELLE   AND   THE  JESUITS. 


333 


means  to  procure  the  recall  of  those  chosen  with- 
out their  participation;^  filled  offices  with  their 
adherents,  and  tolerated  no  secular  priests  except 
those  of  one  mind  with  them."  ^  Talon,  therefore, 
under  the  veil  of  a  reverent  courtesy,  sharply 
wiitched  them.  They  paid  courtesy  with  courtesy, 
and  the  intendant  wrote  home  to  his  master  that 
he  saw  nothing  amiss  in  them.  He  quickly  changed 
his  mind.  "  I  should  have  had  less  trouble  and 
more  praise,"  he  writes  in  the  next  year,  "  if  I 
had  been  willing  to  leave  the  power  of  the  church 
where  I  found  it."^  "  It  is  easy,"  he  says  again, 
"  to  incur  the  ill-will  of  the  Jesuits  if  one  does  not 
accept  all  their  opinions  and  abandon  one's  self  to 
their  direction  even  in  temporal  matters ;  for  their 
encroachments  extend  to  affairs  of  police,  which 
concern  only  the  civil  magistrate ;  "  and  he  rec- 
ommends that  one  or  two  of  them  be  sent  home 
as  disturbers  of  the  peace.^  They,  on  their  part, 
changed  attitude  towards  both  him  and  the  gov- 
ernor. One  of  them.  Father  Bardy,  less  discreet 
than  the  rest,  is  said  to  have  preached  a  sermon 
against  them  at  Quebec,  in  which  he  likened  them 
to  a  pair  of  tofidstools  springing  up  in  a  night, 
adding  that  a  good  remedy  would  soon  be  found, 
and  that  Courcelle  would  have  to  run  home  like 
other  governors  before  him.^ 
Tracy   escaped  clerical   attacks.      He   was   ex- 

'  Instruction  an  Sieur  Tnlon. 
^  Me'inoire  pour  M,  de  Tntcy, 
'  Talon  an  Ministre,  13  Nov.,  1,GG6. 
*  Talon,  M^moirc  <le  10(i7. 

^  La  Salk',  Mi'moire  de  1078.     Tliis  sermon  was  preached  on  the  12th 
of  March.  1CG7. 


ki-  .1^^^...    T. 


334 


PRIESTS  AND  PEOPLE. 


[1605-1700. 


f  I 

It     I 


n 


11 

'  '  ''   • 

III' 

tremely  careful  not  to  provoke  them ;  and  one  of 
his  first  acts  was  to  restore  to  the  council  the 
bishop's  adherentSj  whom  Mezy  had  expelled.^ 
And  if,  on  the  one  hand,  he  was  too  pious  to 
quarrel  with  the  bishop,  so,  on  the  other,  the 
bishop  was  too  prudent  to  invite  collision  with  a 
man  of  his  rank  and  influence. 

After  all,  the  dispute  between  the  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  powers  was  not  fundamental.  Each 
had  need  of  the  other.  Both  rested  on  authority, 
and  they  differed  only  as  to  the  boundary  lines  of 
their  respective  shares  in  it.  Yet  the  dispute  of 
boundaries  was  a  serious  one,  and  it  renin inr'd  a 
source  of  bitterness  for  many  years.  The  king, 
though  rigidly  Catholic,  was  not  yet  sunk  in  the 
slough  of  bigotry  into  which  Maintenon  and  the 
Jesuits  succeeded  at  last  in  plunging  him.  I  o  had 
conceived  a  distrust  of  Laval,  and  his  jealousy  of 
his  royal  authority  disposed  him  to  listen  to  the 
anti-clerical  counsels  of  his  minister.  How  need- 
ful they  both  thought  it  to  prune  the  exuberant 
growth  of  clerical  power,  and  how  cautiously  they 
set  themselves  to  do  so,  their  letters  attest  ago  in 
and  again.  "  The  bishop,"  writes  Colbert,  ''  as- 
sumes a  domination  far  beyond  that  of  other 
bishops  throughout  the  Christian  world,  and  par- 
ticularly in  the  kingdom  of  France."^  "  It  is  the 
will  of  his  Majesty  that  you  confine  him  and  the 
Jesuits  within  just  bounds,  and  let  none  of  them 

^  A  curious  account  of  his  relations  with  Laval  is  given  in  a  letter  of 
La  Motto-Cadillac,  28  September,  1G94, 
8  Colbert  a  Duchesneau,  1  Mai,  1677. 


1665-1700.] 


THE  RECOLLETS. 


335 


n ;  and  one  of 


is  given  in  a  letter  of 


overstep  these  bounds  in  any  manner  whatsoever. 
Consider  this  as  a  matter  of  the  greatest  import- 
ance, and  one  to  ,vhich  you  cannot  give  too  much 
attention."^  "But,"  the  prudent  minister  else- 
where writes,  "  it  is  of  the  greatest  consequence 
that  the  bishop  and  the  Jesuits  do  not  perceive 
that  the  intendant  bhunes  their  conduct."^ 

It  was  to  the  same  intendant  that  Colbert  wrote, 
"it  is  necessary  to  diminish  as  much  as  possible 
the  excessive  number  of  priests,  monks,  and  nuns, 
in  Canada."  Y^t  in  the  very  next  year,  and  on 
the  advice  of  Talon,  he  himself  sent  four  more 
to  vhe  colony.  His  motive  was  plain.  He  meant 
tliat  they  should  serve  as  a  counterpoise  to  the 
Jesuits.^  They  were  mendicant  friars,  belonging 
to  the  branch  of  the  Franciscans  known  as  the 
Recollets ;  and  they  were  supposed  to  be  free  from 
tlie  ambition  for  the  ajx^crandizement  of  their  order 

CO 

which  was  imputed,  and  with  reason,  to  the  Jesuits. 
Whether  the  Recollets  were  free  from  it  or  not,  no 
danger  was  to  be  feared  from  them ;  for  Laval  and 
the  Jesuits  were  sure  to  oppose  them,  and  they 
would  need  the  support  of  the  government  too 
much  to  set  themselves  in  opposition  to  it.  "  The 
more  Recollets  wo  have,"  says  Talon,  "  the  better 
will  the  too  firmly  rooted  authority  of  the  others 
be  balanced.""* 
While  Louis  XIY.  tried  to  confine  the  priests  to 

'  Jolbp.rt  a  Dnchesneau,  28  Avn'l,  1677. 
2  Iiistrucfinn  pour  M.  Bonlcrone,  1G68. 

'  Menioire  succinct  dca  principaux  points  des  intentions  du  Roy  sur  le  pays 
it  Canada,  18  Mai,  1C69. 

*  Talon  au  Minislre,  10  Oct.,  1G70. 


■J      ■'.' 


M 


336 


PRIESTS  AND  PEOPLE. 


[16G<^1700. 


their  ecclesiastical  functions,  he  was  at  the  same 
time,  whether  from  religion,  policy,  or  both  com- 
bined, very  liberal  to  the  Canadian  church,  of 
which,  indeed,  he  was  the  main-stay.  In  the 
yearly  estimate  of  ''  ordinary  charges "  of  tlie 
colony,  the  church  holds  the  most  prominent  j)lace  • 
and  the  appropriations  for  religious  purposes  oftt'ii 
exceed  all  the  rest  together.  Thus,  m  16GT,  out 
of  a  total  of  36,360  francs,  28,000  are  assigned  to 
church  uses.^  The  amount  fluctuated,  but  ^vas 
always  relatively  large.  The  Canadian  curus  wi'ic 
paid  in  great  part  by  the  king,  who  for  many 
years  gave  eight  thousand  francs  annually  towards 
their  support.  Such  was  the  poverty  of  the 
country  that,  though  in  1685  there  were  only 
twenty-five  cures,^  each  costing  about  five  huiidnd 
francs  a  year,  the  tithes  utterly  failed  to  meet  the 
expense.  As  late  as  1700,  the  intendant  declared 
that  Canada  without  the  king's  help  coidd  not 
maintain  more  than  eight  or  nine  cures.  Louis 
XIV.  winced  under  these  steady  demands,  and 
reminded  the  bishop  that  more  than  four  thousand 
cures  in  France  lived  on  less  than  two  hundred 
francs  a  year.^  "  You  say,''  he  wrote  to  the  in- 
tendant, '^  that  it  is  impossible  for  a  Canadian 
cure  to  live  on  five  hundred  francs.     Then  you 

1  Of  tliis,  6,000  francs  were  given  to  the  Jesuits,  0,000  to  tlie  Ursuliiies, 
9,000  to  lliecatlieilral,  4,000  to  the  seminary,  and  3,000  to  the  IIutel-Dieu. 
Etat  (Ic  depomc,  etc.,  1077.  Tlie  rest  went  to  pay  civil  otticers  and  garri- 
sons. In  1682,  the  amount  for  ciiurch  uses  was  only  12,000  francsi.  la 
1G87  it  was  18,500.     In  IGH'J,  it  rose  to  8-4,()00,  including  Acadia. 

3  Increased  soon  after  to  thirty-six  by  Saint- Vallier,  Laval's  successor. 

3  Memoire  ^t  Dnchesneau,  15  Mai,  1678;  Le  Roy  a  Duchesneau,  11  Juin, 
1680. 


iou5-noo.] 


THE  KING  AND   THE   CHURCH. 


337 


must  do  the  impossible  to  accomplish  my  intentions, 
which  are  always  that  the  cures  should  live  on  the 
tithes  alone."  ^  Yet  the  head  of  the  church  still 
begged  for  money,  and  the  king  still  paid  it,  '^  We 
are  in  the  midst  of  a  costly  war,"  wrote  the  minis- 
ter to  the  bishop,  '^  yet  in  consequence  of  your 
urgency  the  gifts  to  ecclesiastics  will  be  continued 
as  before."^  And  they  did  continue.  More  than 
half  a  century  later,  the  kino;  was  still  makin;^ 
them,  and  during  the  last  years  of  the  colony  he 
gave  twenty  thousand  francs  annually  to  support 
Canadian  cures.^ 

The  maintenance  of  cures  was  but  a  part  of 
his  bounty.  He  endowed  the  bishopric  with  the 
revenues  of  two  French  abbeys,  to  which  he  after- 
wards added  a  third.  The  vast  tracts  of  land 
which  Laval  had  acquired  w^ere  freed  from  feudal 
burdens,  and  emigrants  were  sent  to  them  by  the 
government  in  sucli  numbers  that,  in  IGGT,  the 
bishop's  seigniory  of  Beaupre  and  Orleans  con- 
tained more  than  a  fourth  of  the  entire  population 
of  Canada.^  He  had  emerged  from  his  condition 
of  apostolic  poverty  to  find  himself  the  richest 
land-owner  in  the  colony. 

If  by  favors  like  these  the  king  expecteu  to 
lead  the    ecclesiastics    into   compliance   with    his 

'  />  Roif  a  Duchesneau,  30  Avrll,  1681. 

■'  ie  Ministre  a  C Ev^ine,  8  Mai,  1GU4. 

•^  Bougainville,  Me'ntoire,  1757. 

*  Entire  population,  4,312;  Beauprd  and  Orleans,  1,185.  Berenscment 
i-Wil.  Laval,  it  will  be  remembered,  afterwards  gave  his  land?  to  the 
^'miliary  of  Quebec.  He  previously  exciianged  the  island  of  Orleans 
»itii  the  Sieur  Bertlielot  for  tlie  island  of  Jesus.  Berthelot  gave  him  a 
laige  sum  of  money  in  addition. 

22 


±1 


338 


PRIESTS  AND  PEOPLE. 


[lOCG-lTOO. 


wishes,  he  was  doomed  to  disappointmont.  The 
system  of  movable  cures,  by  which  the  bishop 
Hke  a  military  chief  could  compel  each  moTnlicr  of 
his  clerical  army  to  come  and  go  at  his  biddinn. 
was  from  the  first  repugnant  to  Louis  XIV.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  bishop  clung  to  it  with  his 
usual  tenacity.  Colbert  denounced  it  as  contrarv 
to  the  laws  of  the  kingdom.*  "His  Majesty  ims 
reason  to  believe,"  he  writes,  "  that  tlie  chief 
source  of  the  difficulty  which  the  bishop  makes  on 
this  point  is  his  wish  to  preserve  a  greater  author- 
ity over  the  cures."  ^  The  inflexible  prelate,  whoso 
heart  was  bound  up  in  the  system  he  had  estiib- 
lished,  opposed  evasion  and  delay  to  each  ex- 
pression of  the  royal  will ;  and  even  a  royal  edict 
failed  to  produce  the  desired  effect.  In  tlio  h  ,'ight 
of  the  dispute,  Laval  went  to  court,  and,  on  the 
ground  of  failing  health,  asked  for  a  successor  in 
the  bishopric.  The  king  readily  granted  his  pravor. 
The  successor  was  appointed  ;  but  when  Laval  pre- 
pared to  embark  again  for  Canada,  he  was  given  to 
understand  that  he  was  to  remain  in  France.  In 
vain  he  promised  to  make  no  trouble ;  ^  and  it  was 
not  till  after  an  absence  of  four  years  that  he  was 
permitted  to  return,  no  longer  as  its  chief,  to  his 
beloved  Canadian  church.* 


1  Le  Ministre  a  Duchesncan,  15  Mai,  1G78. 

'^  Instruction  a  M.  de  Mcules,  1682. 

3  Laval  an  Pere  la  C/iaise,  1687.  This  forms  part  of  a  curious  corre- 
spondence printed  in  the  Foijei-  Canadian  for  1806,  from  originals  in  the 
Archeveche  of  Quebec. 

••  From  a  m^moire  of  18  Feb.,  1G85  {Archives  de  Versailles)  it  is  plain 
that  the  court,  in  giving  a  successor  to  Laval,  thought  that  it  had  ended 
the  vexed  question  of  movable  curds. 


1665-1700.] 


THE  NEW  BISHOP. 


Meunvvliile  Saint- Vailier,  tlio  new  bishop,  had 
raised  a  new  tempest.  He  attacked  that  organiza- 
tion of  the  seminary  of  Quebec  by  which  Laval 
had  endeavored  to  unite  the  secular  priests  o> 
Canada  into  an  attached  and  obedient  family,  wici.. 
the  bishop  as  its  head  and  the  seminary  as  its 
home,  a  plan  of  which  the  system  of  movable 
cures  was  an  essential  part.  The  Canadian  priests, 
devoted  to  Laval,  met  the  innovations  of  Saint- 
Vallier  with  an  opposition  which  seemed  only  to 
confirm  his  purpose.  Laval,  Id  and  worn  with 
toil  and  asceticism,  was  driven  a^  aost  to  despair. 
The  seminary  of  Quebec  was  the  cherished  work 
of  his  life,  and,  to  his  thinkin<„"  the  citadel  of  the 
Canadian  church ;  and  nov  he  beheld  it  })attered 
and  breached  before  his  e^es.  His  successor,  in 
tact,  was  trying  to  place  the  church  of  Canada  on 
the  footing  of  the  church  of  France.  The  conflict 
lasted  for  years,  with  the  rancor  that  marks  the 
quarrels  of  non-combatants  of  both  sexes.  "  He  " 
[Saint-  Vallier),  says  one  of  his  opponents,  "  has 
made  himself  contemptible  to  almost  everybody, 
and  particularly  odious  to  the  priests  born  in 
Canada ;  for  there  is  between  them  and  him  a 
mutual  antipathy  difficult  to  overcome."  ^  He  is 
described  by  the  same  writer  as  a  person  "  without 
reflection  and  judgment,  extreme  in  all  things, 
secret  and  artful,  passionate  when  opposed,  and  a 
flatterer  when  he  wishes  to  gain  his  point."  This 
amiable  critic  adds  that  Saint- Vallier  believes   a 


1  The  above  is  from  an  anonymous  paper,  written  apparently  in  1695, 
and  entitled  M€moire  pour  le  Canada. 


340 


PRIESTS  AND  PEOPLE. 


[iG8a. 


bishop  to  be  inspired,  in  virtue  of  his  olTico,  with 
a  wisdom  that  needs  no  human  aid,  and  that  what- 
ever thought  comes  to  him  in  prayer  is  a  (Hvine 
inspiration  to  be  carried  into  effect  at  all  costs  and 
in  spite  of  all  opposition. 

The  new  bishop,  notwithstanding  the  tempest 
he  had  raised,  did  not  fully  accomplish  Ihat  estab- 
lishment of  the  cures  in  their  respective  })ar- 
ishes  which  the  king  and  the  minister  so  miich 
desired.  The  Canadian  cure  was  more  a  missionniv 
than  a  parish  priest;  and  nature  as  well  as  Bishop 
Laval  threw  difficulties  in  the  way  of  settling  him 
quietly  over  his  charge. 

On  the  Lower  St.  Lawrence,  where  it  widens  to 
an  estuary,  six  leagues  across,  a  ship  from  Franco. 
the  last  of  the  season,  holds  her  way  for  Quebec 
laden  with  stores  and  clothing,  household  utensils. 
goods  for  Indian  trade,  the  newest  court  fashions. 
wine,  brandy,  tobacco,  and  the  king's  orders  from 
Versailles.  Swelling  her  patched  and  dingy  sails. 
she  fflides  throuo-h  the  Avildness  and  the  solitude 
where  there  is  nothino^  but  her  to  remind  you  oi 
the  great  troubled  world  behind  and  the  little 
troubled  world  before.  On  the  far  verge  of  tin 
ocean-like  river,  clouds  and  mountains  mingle  in 
dim  confusion ;  fresh  gusts  from  the  north  dash 
waves  against  the  ledges,  sweep  through  the  quiv- 
ering spires  of  stiff  and  stunted  fir-trees,  and  rullle 
the  feathers  of  the  crow,  perched  on  the  dead 
bough  after  his  feast  of  mussels  among  the  sea-weed. 
You  are  not  so  solitary  as  you  think.  A  small 
birch  canoe  rounds  the  point  of  rocks,  and  it  bears 


1683.] 


THE   CANADIAN   CUIl^. 


341 


two  men;  one  in  an  old  black  cassock,  and  the 
other  in  a  buckskin  coat ;  both  working  hard  at 
the  paddle  to  keep  their  slender  craft  oft'  the 
shingle  and  the  breakers.  The  man  in  the  cassock 
i>j  Father  Morel,  aged  forty-eight,  the  oldest  coun- 
try cure  in  Canada,  most  of  his  brethren  being  in 
the  vigor  of  youth  as  they  had  need  to  be.  Ilis 
parochial  charge  embraces  a  string  of  incipient 
parishes  extending  along  the  south  shore  from 
Riviere  du  Loup  to  liiviere  du  Sud,  a  distance 
reckoned  at  twenty-seven  leagues,  and  his  parish- 
ioners number  in  all  three  hundred  and  twenty- 
eight  souls.  He  has  administered  spiritual  conso- 
lation to  the  one  inhabitant  of  Kamouraska ;  visited 
the  eight  families  of  La  Bouteillerie  and  the  five 
families  of  La  Combe ;  and  now  he  is  on  his  wny 
to  the  seigniory  of  St.  Denis  wdth  its  two  houses 
and  eleven  souls.^ 

The  father  lands  where  a  shattered  eel-pot  high 
and  dry  on  the  pebbles  betrays  the  neighborhood 
of  man.  His  servant  shoulders  his  portable  chapel, 
and  follows  him  through  the  belt  of  firs,  and  the 
taller  woods  beyond,  till  the  sunlight  of  a  desolate 
clearing  shines  upon  them.  Charred  trunks  and 
limbs  encumber  the  ground ;  dead  trees,  branch- 
less, barkless,  pierced  by  the  woodpeckers,  in  part 
black  with  fire,  in  part  bleached  by  sun  and  frost, 
tower  ghastly  and  wierd  above  the  labyrinth  of 
forest   ruins,   through  Avhicli   the    priest   and   his 

'  Tliese  particulars  are  from  the  Plan  g^nd'ral  de  Vestal  present  des  mis- 
mis  a. I  Canada,  fait  en  Vann^e,  1083.  It  is  a  list  and  description  of  the 
parislies  with  the  names  and  ages  of  the  cure's,  and  other  details.  See 
AkiUv,  I.     Tills  paper  was  drawn  up  by  order  of  Laval. 


342 


PRIESTS  AND  PEOPLE. 


[1G0&-1700. 


follower  wind  their  way,  the  cat-bird  mewiiifr.  iind 
the  blue-jay  screaming'  as  they  pass.  Now  the 
golden-rod  and  the  jister,  harbingers  of  autinnn, 
fringe  with  purple  and  yellow  the  edge  of  the  older 
clearing,  ^vhere  wheat  and  maize,  the  settler's 
meagre  harvest,  are  growing  among  the  stiiiii[)s. 

Wild-looking  women,  with  sunburnt  faces  and 
neglected  hair,  run  from  their  work  to  meet  the 
cure  ;  a  man  or  two  follow  with  soberer  ste[)s  and 
less  exuberant  zeal ;  while  half-savage  children,  the 
conreui'S  de  hois  of  the  future,  bareheaded,  l)are- 
footed,  and  half-clad,  come  to  wonder  and  staie. 
To  set  up  his  altar  in  a  room  of  the  rugged  log 
cabin,  sa}^  mass,  hear  confessions,  impose  nonaiiee. 
grant  absolution,  repeat  the  office  of  the  dead  over 
a  grave  made  weeks  before,  baptize,  perlia])s,  the 
last  infant;  marry,  possibly,  some  pair  who  may 
or  may  not  have  waited  for  his  coming;  caiechize 
as  well  as  time  and  circumstance  would  allow  the 
shy  but  turbulent  brood  of  some  former  wedlock : 
such  was  the  work  of  the  parish  priest  in  the 
remoter  districts.  It  was  seldom  that  his  cliarg<^ 
w^as  quite  so  scattered,  and  so  far  extended  as  that 
of  Father  Morel ;  but  there  w^ere  fifteen  or  tweiit\ 
others  whose  labors  were  like  in  kind,  and  in  soiiu' 
cases  no  less  arduous.  All  summer  they  paddled  theit 
canoes  from  settlement  to  settlement ;  and  in  winter 
they  toiled  on  snow-shoes  over  the  drifts ;  while  the 
servant  carried  the  portable  chapel  on  his  back,  or 
dragged  it  on  a  sledge.  Once,  at  least,  in  the  year, 
the  cure  paid  his  visit  to  Quebec,  where,  under  the 
maternal  roof  of  the  seminary,  he  made  his  retreat 


1665-1700.1 


THE   CANADIAN   CUIlfi. 


343 


of  iiiL'ditation  and  prayer,  and  then  returned  to  his 
work.  He  rarely  had  a  house  of  his  own,  hut 
boarded  in  that  of  the  seignior  or  one  of  the  hahi- 
PintK.  Many  parishes  or  aggregations  of  parishes 
liiid  no  other  church  than  a  room  fitt(;d  up  for  the 
purpose  in  the  house  of  some  pious  settler.  In 
the  larger  settlements,  there  were  churches  and 
chapels  of  wood,  thatched  with  straw,  often  ruin- 
ous, poor  to  the  last  degree,  without  ornaments, 
,ml  sometimes  without  the  sacred  vessels  necessary 
for  the  service.^  In  1683,  there  were  but  seven 
stone  churches  in  all  the  colony.  The  population 
was  so  thin  and  scattered  that  many  of  the  settlers 
heard  mass  only  three  or  four  times  a  year,  and 
some  of  them  not  so  often.  The  sick  frequently 
(lied  without  absolution,  and  infants  without  bap- 
tism. 

The  splendid  self-devotion  of  the  early  Jesuit 
missions  has  its  record ;  so,  too,  have  the  unseemly 
bickerings  of  bishops  and  governors :  but  the 
patient  toils  of  the  missionary  cure  rest  in  the 
obscurity  where  the  best  of  human  virtues  are 
buried  from  age  to  age.  What  we  find  set  down 
concerning  him  is,  that  Louis  XIV.  was  unable  to 
see  why  he  should  not  live  on  two  hundred  francs 
a  year  as  well  as  a  village  cure  by  the  banks  of 
the  Garonne.  The  king  did  not  know  that  his 
cassock  and  all  his  clothing  cost  him  twice  as  much 
and  lasted  half  as  long ;  that  he  must  have  a  canoe 
tnd  a  man  to  paddle  it;  and  that  when  on  his 

^  Saint- Vallier,  Estat  present  de  l'E(/lise  et  de  la  Colonie  1  ^  iqaiae, 
22  (ed.  1856). 


344 


PRIESTS  AND   PEOPLE. 


[1085. 


»■ 


#» 
i' 


f 


annunl  visit   the    seminary  paid   him  five  or  six 
hmiclred  francSj  partly  in  clothes,  partly  in  sIoil's 
and  partly  in  money,  the  end  of  the  year  lound 
him   as  poor  as  before   except   only  in  his  con- 


science. 


The  Canadian  priests  held  the  manners  of  the 
colony  nnder  a  rule  as  rigid  as  that  of  tlie  Piiiitaii 
churches  of  Ncav  England,  but  with  the  (liffcreuce 
that  in  Canada  a  large  part  of  the  population  \v;is 
restive  under  their  control,  Avhile  some  of  the  civil 
authorities,  often  with  the  governor  at  their  lu-ad, 
supported  the  opposition.  This  was  due,  partlv  to 
an  excess  of  clerical  severity,  and  partly  to  the 
continued  friction  between  the  secular  and  ecclo- 
slastical  powers.  It  sometimes  happened,  however, 
that  a  new  governor  arrived,  so  pious  that  the 
clerical  party  felt  that  they  could  rely  on  him. 
Of  these  rare  instances  the  principal  is  that  of 
Denonville,  who,  with  a  wife  as  pious  as  himself, 
and  a  young  daughter,  landed  at  Quebec,  in  108-j. 
On  this.  Bishop  Saint-Vallier,  anxious  to  turn  his 
good  dispositions  to  the  best  account,  addressed  to 
him  a  series  of  suo-u-estions  or  rather  directions  for 
the  guidance  of  his  conduct,  with  a  view  to  the 
spiritual  profit  of  those  ovei*  whom  he  was  appointed 
to  rule.  The  document  was  put  on  file,  and  the 
following  are  some  of  the  points  in  it.  It  is  di- 
vided into  five  different  heads:  "Touching  feasts." 
^*  touching  balls  and  dances,"  "  touidiing  comedies 
and  other  dechunations,"  "  touching  dress,"  ''  touch- 
ing irreverence  in  church."  'Vhv  governor  and 
madame  his  wife  are  desired  to  accept  no  invitu- 


1685.] 


SAINT- VALLIER  AND   DENONVILLE. 


345 


tions  to  suppers,  that  is  to  say  late  dinners,  as 
tending  to  nocturnal  hours  and  dangerous  pastimes; 
and  they  are  further  enjoined  to  express  dissatisfac- 
tion, and  refuse  to  come  again,  should  any  entertain- 
ment offered  them  be  too  sumptuous.  '•  Although," 
continues  the  bishop  under  the  second  head  of  his 
address,  "  balls  and  dances  arc  not  sinful  in  their 
nature,  nevertheless  they  are  so  dangerous  by 
reason  of  the  circumstances  that  attend  them,  and 
the  evil  ^^esults  that  almost  inevitably  follow,  that, 
in  the  opinion  of  Saint  Francis  of  Sales,  it  should 
be  said  of  them  as  physicians  say  of  mushrooms, 
that  at  best  they  are  good  for  nothing ;  "  and,  after 
enlarging  on  their  perils,  he  declares  it  to  be  of 
L'l'eat  importance  to  the  glory  of  God  and  the 
smctification  of  the  colony,  that  the  governor  and 
his  wife  neither  give  such  entertainments  nor 
countenance  them  by  their  presence.  ''  Neverthe- 
less," adds  the  mentor,  ^*  since  the  youth  and 
vivacity  of  mademoiselle  their  daughter  requires 
^omc  diversion,  it  is  permitted  to  relent  somewhat, 
and  indulge  her  in  a  little  moderate  and  proper 
dancing,  provided  that  it  be  solely  with  persons  of 
her  own  sex,  and  in  the  presence  of  madame  her 
iiiotlicr ;  but  by  no  means  in  the  presence  of  men 
or  youths,  since  it  is  this  mingling  of  sexes  which 
•"uisos  the  disorders  that  spring  from  balls  and 
lances."  Private  theatricals  in  any  form  are  Jiext 
interdicted  to  the  young  lady.  The  bishop  then 
pusses  to  the.  sulrject  of  her  dress,  and  exposes  the 
abuses  against  which  she  is  to  be  guarded.  ^' The 
luxury  of  dress,"  he  says,  ''  appears  in  the  ricii  and 


.^^1 


346 


PRIESTS  AND  PEOPLE. 


[1685. 


it 


OF 

K- 


dazzling  fabrics  wherein  the  women  and  girls  of 
Canada  attire  themselves,  and  which  are  far  beyond 
their  condition  and  their  means ;  in  tlie  excess  of 
ornaments  which  they  put  on  ;  in  the  extraordinary 
head-dresses  which  they  affect,  their  heads  beini: 
uncovered  and  full  of  strange  trinkets ;  and  in  the 
immodest  curls  so  expressly  forbidden  in  the  epis- 
tles of  Saint  Peter  and  Saint  Paul,  as  well  as  by  all 
the  fathers  and  doctors  of  the  church,  and  which 
God  has  often  severely  punished,  as  may  be  seen 
by  the  example  of  the  unhappy  Pretextata,  a  liidy 
of  high  quality,  who,  as  we  learn  from  Saint 
Jerome,  who  knew  her,  had  her  hands  withered, 
and  died  suddenly  five  months  after,  and  was  pre- 
cipitated into  hell,  as  God  had  threatened  her  by 
an  angel ;  because,  by  order  of  her  husband,  she 
had  curled  the  hair  of  her  niece,  and  attired  her 
after  a  worldly  fashion."  ^ 

Whether  the  Marquis  and  T  irchioness  Denon- 
ville  profited  by  so  apt  and  terrible  a  warning,  or 
whether  their  patience  and  good-nature  survived 
the  episcopal  onslaught,  does  not  appear  on  record. 
The  subject  of  feminine  apparel  received  great 
attention,  both  from  Saint- Vallier  and  his  prede- 

1  "  Tcmoin  entr'auties  roxemple  de  la  nialheureuse  Pretoxtiite,  d.Tme 
de  grande  condition,  laqiieile  au  rapport  de  S.  Jerome,  dont  elk'  ctoit 
conniie,  eut  les  mains  des^-seciiees  et  cinq  niois  aprcs  mourut  subitemeiit  et 
fut  procipitoe  en  cnfer,  ainsi  que  Dieu  I'en  avoit  menacee  ])ar  lui  Aiiw 
pour  avoir  par  lo  commandement  de  son  marl  frise  et  liabillo  nioiniiiine- 
ment  sa  niece."     Divers  jwiuts   a   repr^seuter  a   Mr.  le  Gouvcrnmr  <■>  a  I 
Madame  la  G(>nveniante,si(pi€  Jean  ecesqne  de  Qiie'brc,    {Rcj/istre  di:  I'Krcche  i 
de  Quebec.)    Tlie  bishop  on  another  ocicasion  holds  up  the  sad  fate  ot  Tre-  | 
tcxtata  as  a  warning  to  Canadian  mothers;  but  in  the  present  ciii^f  he 
slightly  changes  the  incidents  to  make  tlie  story  more  applicable  to  tl-e 
governor  and  his  wife. 


1663-1700.] 


CLERICAL   SEVERITY. 


347 


bs  :  and  in  the 


cesser,  each  of  whom  issued  a  number  of  pastoral 
nmndates  concerning  it.  Their  severest  denuncia- 
tions were  aimed  at  low-necked  dresses,  which  they 
regarded  as  favorite  devices  of  the  enemy  for  the 
snaring  of  souls ;  and  they  also  used  strong  lan- 
nvd^j'e  ao:ainst  certain  knots  of  ribbons  called  fon- 

coo  «/ 

Umyes,  with  which  the  belles  of  Quebec  adorned 
their  heads.  Laval  launches  strenuous  invectives 
against  "  the  luxury  and  vanity  of  women  and 
girls,  who,  forgetting  the  promises  of  their  bap- 
tism, decorate  themselves  with  the  pomp  of  Satan, 
whom  they  have  so  solemnly  renounced ;  and,  in 
their  wish  to  please  the  eyes  of  men,  make  them- 
selves the  instruments  and  the  captives  of  the 
fiend."  1 

In  the  journal  of  the  superior  of  the  Jesuits  we 
find,  under  date  of  February  4,  1667,  a  record 
of  the  first  ball  in  Canada,  along  with  the  pious 
wish,  "  God  grant  that  nothing  further  come  of 
it."  Nevertheless  more  balls  were  not  long  in 
following ;  and,  worse  yet,  sundry  comedies  were 
enacted  under  no  less  distinguished  patronage  than 
that  of  Frontenac,  the  governor.  Laval  denounced 
iheni  vigorously,  the  Jesuit  Dablon  attacked  them 
in  a  violent  sermon  ;  and  sucli  excitement  followed 
that  the  affair  was  brought  before  the  royal  coun- 
cil, which  declhied  to  interfere.''^     Tliis  flurry,  how- 

'  Mandement  centre  le  luxe  tt  la  vanity  des  fimmes  et  des  filli-s,  1G82. 
{Be(]istrcs  de  VKvech^  de  Quebec.)  A  still  more  vijforou.s  (lominclation 
is  contained  in  Ordonnance  contre  les  vices  de  luxe  et  d'im})uret(f,  IG'JO.  This 
was  followed  in  tlie  next  year  by  a  stringent  list  of  rules  called  Rtfi/lement 
jmr  In  conduitc  desjidelus  de  ce  diocese. 

"^  Arrets  dti  24  et  28  ;'»/«  par  lesqnels  cette  affaire  [des  comedies)  est  renvoy€e 
iSaMaJtst^,  1681.  (?)     {lie^islre  dit  Cvnseil  Souverain.) 


348 


PRIESTS   AND   TEOPLE. 


|inGo-i700. 


ti 

It. 

r 

I: 


^. 


ever,  was  nothing  to  the  •^^torrn.  raised  ten  or  twelve 
years  later  by  other  dramaTif;  aggressions,  an  accoi  nt 
of  Avhich  will  appear  in  the  sequel  of  this  voIuidl'. 

The  morals  of  families  Avere  watched  with  unre- 
lenting vigilance.  Frontenac  vvrites  in  a  mood 
unusually  temperate,  "they  (the  priests)  are  full 
of  virtue  and  piety,  and  if  their  zeal  wei'c  lei<s 
veliement  and  more  moderate  they  would  perhaps 
succeed  better  in  their  efforts  for  the  conversion 
of  souls;  but  they  often  use  means  so  extraor- 
dinary, and  in  France  so  unusual,  that  they  re- 
pel most  people  instead  of  persuading  tlieni.  I 
sometimes  tell  them  my  views  frankly  and  as 
gently  as  I  can,  as  I  know  the  murmurs  that  their 
conduct  excites,  and  olion  receive  com])laints  of 
the  consti'aint  under  which  they  place  consciences. 
This  i?5  above  all  the  case  with  the  ecclesiastics  at 
Montrc.J,  where  there  is  a  cure  from  Franelie 
Comte  Avho  wants  to  estdjlish  a  sort  of  inquisition 
worse  than  that  of  Spam,  and  all  out  of  an  excess 

of  zo:."^ 

It  -w.s  this  cure,  no  doubt,  of  whom  La  Ilori- 
tan  complains.  That  unsanctified  young  ollieer 
was  quartered  at  Montreal,  in  the  liouse  of  one 
of  the  inhabitants.  "During  a  part  of  the 
W'intvir  I  was  hunting  with  the  Algonquins ;  the 
rest  of  it  I  spent  here  very  disagreeably.  One 
can  neither  go  on  a  pleasure  party,  nor  play  a 
game  of  cards,  nor  visit  the  ladies,  Avitliout  the 
cure  knowing  it  and  preaching  about  it  })ul)liely 
from  his  pulpit.     The  priests  excommunicato  nuis- 

1  Frontenac  au  Miuistre,  20  Oct.,  IGOl. 


:^^^W^' 


1663-1700.] 


I,A  MOTTE  AND   THE   PRIESTS. 


349 


uuiiioato  mas- 


fjueraders,  and  even  go  in  search  of  ihcm  to  |>ull 
off  tlieir  masks  and  overwhelm  them  Avith  abuse. 
They  watch  more  closely  over  the  women  ami 
girls  rhan  their  husbands  and  fathers.  They  pre- 
hibit  and  burn  all  books  but  books  of  devotion.  I 
cannot  think  of  this  tyranny  without  cursing  the 
indiscreet  zeal  of  the  cure  of  this  town.  lie  came 
to  the  house  where  I  lived,  and,  finding  some 
books  on  my  table,  presently  pounced  on  the 
romance  of  Petronius,  which  I  valued  more  than 
my  life  because  it  w^as  not  mutilated.  He  tore  out 
almost  all  the  leaves,  so  that  if  my  host  had  not 
restrained  me  when  I  came  in  and  saw  the  miser- 
able wreck,  I  should  have  run  after  this  rampant 
lieplierd  and  torn  out  every  hair  of  his  beard."  ^ 
La  Motte-Cadillac,  the  founder  of  Detroit,  seems 
have  had  equal  difficulty  in  keeping  his  tem- 
iHT  "  Neither  men  of  L'onor  nor  men  of  parts 
are  endured  in  Canada;  nobody  can  live  here  but 
iiupletons  and  slaves  of  the  ecclesiastical  doy-.  iiia- 
:ion.  The  count  [Frontenac)  would  not  )  '  ^e  so 
iiianv  troublesome  affairs  on  his  htmds  if  lie  had 
not  abolished  a  Jericho  in  the  shape  of  a,  iiou^o 
built  by  messieurs  of  the  seminary  of  Montr  \il,  to 
,<huL  up,  as  they  said,  girls  who  caused  scandal ;  if 
iie  had  allovvcd  them  to  take  officers  and  .soldiers  to 
go  into  houses  at  midnight  and  carry  olf  wonnm 
from  their  husbands  and  whip  them  till  the  blood 
flowed  because  they  had  L)een  at  a  btdl  or  worn  a 
mask ;   if  he  had  said  nothing  against  the  cures 

'  L;i  Iiontan,  I  10  (ed.  170U}.    Other  p'litions  contain  the  same  story 

!!i  <lirtLMX'iit  words. 


■;     •() 


350 


PRIESTS  AND  PEOPLE. 


[1668-1700. 


1* 

Ik'-: 

i 


>< 


%^^ 


who  went  the  rounds  with  the  soldiers  and  com- 
pelled women  and  girls  to  shut  themselves  up  in 
their  houses  at  nine  o'clock  of  summer  eveniu'-s- 
if  he  had  forbidden  the  wearing  of  lace,  and  miuh 
no  objection  to  the  refusal  of  the  communion  to 
women  of  quality  because  they  wore  a  fontaiKje ; 
if  he  had  not  opposed  excommunications  flung  about 
without  sense  or  reason ;  if,  I  say,  the  count  luid 
been  of  this  way  of  thinking  he  would  have  stood 
as  a  nonpareil,  and  have  been  put  very  soon  on 
the  list  of  saints,  for  saint-making  is  cheap  in  tliis 
country."^ 

While  the  Sulpitians  were  thus  rigorous  at 
Montreal,  the  bishop  and  his  Jesuit  allies  v.ere 
scarcely  less  so  at  Quebec.  There  was  little  good- 
will between  them  and  the  Sulpitians,  and  some  of 
the  sharpest  charges  against  the  followers  of  Loyola 
are  brought  by  their  brother  priests  at  Montreal. 
The  Sulpitian  Allet  writes  :  "  The  Jesuits  hold  such 
domination  over  the  people  of  this  country  that 
they  go  into  the  houses  and  see  every  thing  that 
passes  there.  They  then  tell  what  they  liavr 
learned  to  each  other  at  their  meetings,  and  on 
this  information  they  govern  their  policy.  The 
Jesuit,  Father  Ragueneau,  used  to  go  every  day 
down  to  the  Lower  Town,  where  the  merchant- 
live,  to  find  out  all  that  was  going  on  in  their 
families;  and  he  often  made  people  get  up  from 
table  to  confess  to  him."  Allet  goes  on  to  say 
that  Father  Chatelain  also  went  continually  to  the 
Lower  Town  with  the  same  object,  and  that  soiuu 

1  La  Motte-Cadiltac  a ,  28  Sept.,  1694. 


1663-1700.] 


JESUIT  ACTIVITY. 


351 


of  the  inhabitants  compLainecl  of  him  to  Cour- 
cell(\  the  governor.  One  day  Coiircelle  saw  the 
Jesuit,  who  was  old  and  somewhat  infirm,  slowly 
walking  by  the  Chateau,  cane  in  hand,  on  his 
usual  errand,  on  which  he  sent  a  sergeant  after 
him  to  request  that  he  would  not  go  so  often  to 
the  Lower  Town,  as  the  people  were  annoyed  by 
the  frequency  of  his  visits.  The  father  replied  in 
wrath,  ''  Go  and  tell  Monsieur  de  Courcelle  that  I 
have  been  there  ever  since  he  was  governor,  and 
that  I  shall  go  there  after  he  has  ceased  to  be 
governor;"  and  he  kept  on  his  way  as  before. 
Ccnrcelle  reported  his  answer  to  the  superior,  Le 
Mercier,  and  demanded  to  have  him  sent  home  as 
a  punishment;  but  the  superior  effected  a  com- 
promise. On  the  following  Thursday,  after  mass 
in  the  cathedral,  he  invited  Courcelle  into  the 
sacristy,  where  Father  Chatelain  was  awaiting 
them ;  and  here,  at  Le  Mercier's  order,  the  old 
priest  begged  pardon  of  the  offended  governor  on 
his  knees.^ 

The  Jesuits  derived  great  power  from  the  con- 
icssional ;  and,  if  their  accusers  are  to  be  believed, 
they  employed  unusual  means  to  make  it  effective. 
Cavelier  de  la  Salle  says : ''  They  will  confess  nobody 
till  he  tells  his  name,  and  no  servant  till  he  tells 
the  name  of  his  master.  When  a  crime  is  con- 
fessed, they  insist  on  knowing  the  name  of  the 
accomplice,  as  well  as  all  the  circumstances,  with 


'  Meinoire  d'Allet.  The  author  was  at  one  time  secretary  to  Abbe 
Que'liw.  The  paper  is  printed  in  tlie  Morale  ))ratl<iHe  des  Jd'suites.  The 
above  is  one  of  many  curious  statements  whicli  it  contains. 


352 


PRIESTS   AND  PLOPLE. 


[1603-1700. 


the  greatest  particularity.  Father  Cluitolain  es- 
pecially never  fails  to  do  this.  They  enter  as  it 
were  by  force  into  the  secrets  of  families,  a'ld  thus 
make  themselves  formidable  ;  for  what  cannot  he 
done  by  a  clever  man  devoted  to  his  work,  wlio 
knows  all  the  secrets  of  every  family ;  ahovo  all 
when  he  permits  himself  to  tell  them  when  it  is 
for  his  interest  to  do  so  ?  "  ^ 

The  association  of  women  and  girls  known  as 
the  Congregation  of  the  Holy  Family,  which  ^vas 
formed  under  Jesuit  auspices,  and  which  met  every 
Thursday  with  closed  doors  in  the  cathedral,  is  said 
to  have  been  very  useful  to  the  fathers  in  their 
social  investigations.^     The  members  are  ailiruu'd 
to  have  been  under  a  vow  to  tell  each  other  every 
good  or  evil  deed  they  knew  of  every  person  of  | 
their  acquaintance ;  so  that  this  pious  gossip  be- 
came a  copious  source  of  information  to  tlioso  in  a| 
position  to  draw  upon  it.    In  Talon's  time  the  Con- 
gregation of  the  Holy  Family  caused  such  com- 
motion in   Quebec   that  he  asked  the  council   toj 
appoint  a  conunission  to  inquire  into  its  proceed- 1 
ings.     He  was  touching  dangerous  ground.     The! 
affair  was  presently  hushed,  and  the   application 
cancelled  on  the  register  of  the  council.'^ 

The  Jesuits  had  long  exercised  solely  the  iune-| 
tion  of  confessors  in  the  colony,  and  a  number  of 


1  La  Salle,  Memoirp,  1078. 

'-  See  Discovery  of  the  Groat  West,  105, 

''  Rfpr^aentation  faite  au  conseil  an  stijet  lie  certaines  assemhJ&n  de  fimmnl 
niiji'/cs  sons  le  nom  (h-  hi  Sninte  FiimilJp,  UltiT.    ( Reijistir  dn  Const  il  Soimrniii.) 
Tlie  paper  is  cancelled  by  lines  drawn  over  it ;  and  the  tbllovviiig  inimite, 
duly  attested,  is  appended  to  it ;  "  liaye  du  uonsentement  de  M.  Talon." 


Ioti3-1700.] 


THE  RECOLLETS. 


353 


curious  anecdotes  are  on  record  showing  the  re- 
luctance with  which   they  admitted   the   secular 
priests,  and  above  all  the  Recollets,  to  share  in  it. 
The  Recollets,  of  whom  a  considerable  number  had 
arrived  from  time  to  time,  were  on  excellent  terms 
with  the  civil  powers,  and  were  popular  with  the 
colonists ;  but  with  the  bishop  and  the  Jesuits  tliey 
were  not  in  favor,  and  one  or  two  sharp  collisions 
took  place.     The  bishop   was  naturally   annoyed 
when,  while  he  was  trying  to  persuade  the  king 
that  a  cure  needed  at  least  six  hundred  francs  a 
year,  these  mendicant  friars  came  forward  with  an 
offer  to  serve  the  parishes  for  nothing  ;  nor  was  he, 
it  is  likely,  better  pleased  when,  having  asked  the 
liospital  nuns  eight  hundred  francs  annually  for 
two  masses  a  day  in  their  chapel,  the  Recollets 
iinderbid  him,  and  offered  to  say  the  masses  for 
three   hundred.^     They,  on  their   part,  complain 
Ijitterly  of  the  bishop,  who,  they  say,  would  gladly 
liave  ordered  them  out  of  the  colony,  but  being 
unable  to  do  this,  tried  to  shut  them  up  in  their 
convent,    and   prevent    them   from   officiating   as 
priests  among  the  people.     "  We   have  as   little 
liberty,"  says  the  RecoUet  writer,  "  as  if  we  were 
in  a  country  of  heretics."     He  adds  that  the  in- 
habitants ask  earnestly  for   the  ministrations   of 
the  friars,  but  that   the  bishop    replies   with  in- 
vectives and  calumnies  against  the  order,  and  that 


'  "Mon  dit  sieur  I'evesque  leur  fait  payer  (au.r  hospitnlitres)  800/.  par 
I  in  pour  deux  messes  qu'il  leur  fait  dire  par  see  Scminaristes  que  lea 
pecoHeis  leurs  voisins  leur  offrent  pour  300/."     La  Banc  aa  Mtitistre, 
M 

28 


354 


PRIESTS  AND  PEOPLE. 


[1003-1700 J 


1^. 


t 

r 

*  • 


when   the  Recollets  absolve  a  penitent  he  oftoni 
annuls  the  absolution.^ 

In  one   respect  this   Canadian   church  militannj 
achieved  a  complete  success.     Heresy  was  scomcfl 
out   of    the    colony.     When   Maintenon   aiK^    Ih-v 
ghostly  prompters  overcame  the  better  natui(!  of 
the    king,   and  wrought    on    his    bigotry  and    liisi 
vanity  to  launch  him  into  the  dragonnndcs;  u' ml 
violence  and  lust  bore  the  crucifix  into  tiious;iii(]s 
of    Huguenot   homes,   and  the  land  reeked   wlilij 
nameless  infamies;  when  churches  raug  wlili  y,'c\ 
Dcums,  and  the  heart  of  France  withered  in  nn- 
guish;  wheU;  in  short,  this  hideous  triumph  of  the  I 
faith  was  won,  the  royal  tool  of  priestly  ferocity 
sent  orders  that  heresy  should  be  treated  in  CaiindiJ 
as  it  had  been   treated  in  France.''^     The   ordei-s 
were    needless.      The   pious    Denonville    ropUcsJ 
"Praised  be   God,  there  is  not  a  heretic  here"] 
He  adds  that  a  few  abjured  last  year,  and  that  hoi 
should  be  very  glad  if  the  king  would  make  thciiil 
a  present.     The  Jesuits,  he  further  says,  go  evciv 
day  on  board  the  ships  in  the  harbor  to  look  nfttT 
the  new^  converts  from  France.^     Now  and  thou  atj 
a  later  day  a  real  or  suspected  Jansenist  found  his 
way  to  Canada,  and  sometimes  an  esprit  fort,  hke 

1  M^moire  instruct} f  contenant  la  conduite  des  PP.  R^coUets  de  Paris  eiil 
leurs  viissious  de  Canada,  1684.  This  paper,  of  wliicli  only  a  frafiiiient  isj 
preserved,  was  written  in  connection  with  a  dispute  of  the  l^ecollets  witlij 
the  bishop  who  opposed  tlieir  attempt  to  establish  a  cluuch  in  Quila'c. 

^  Me'inoire  dn  Roy  a  Denonville,  ol  Mai,  IGHtJ.  The  kin^  here  onltM'SJ 
the  imprisonment  of  heretics  who  refuse  to  abjure,  or  the  quarteriii'r  of  [ 
soldiers  on  them.  What  this  meant  the  history  of  the  dragonuades  willj 
show. 

8  Denonville  au  Ministre,  10  Nov.,  1686. 


I5h3-1700.] 


THE  NUNS. 


355 


LalTontan,  came  over  with  the  troops;  hut  on  the 
whole  a  community  more  free  from  positive  hetero- 
doxy perhaps  never  existed  on  earth.  This  ex- 
emption cost  no  bloodshed.  What  it  did  cost  we 
may  better  judge  hereafter. 

It  Canada  escaped  the  dragonnades,  so  also  she 
escaped  another  infliction  from  which  a  neighboring 
co'ony  suffered  deplorably.  ITer  peace  was  never 
Duich  troubled  by  witches.  They  were  held  to 
exist,  it  is  true ;  but  they  wrought  no  panic. 
Jlothcr  Mary  of  the  Incarnation  reports  on  one 
occasion  the  discovery  of  a  magician  in  the  per- 
son of  a  converted  Huguenot  miller  who,  being 
refused  in  marriage  by  a  girl  of  Quebec,  be- 
witched her,  and  filled  the  house  where  she  lived 
with  demons,  which  the  bishop  tried  in  vain  to 
exorcise.  The  miller  was  thrown  into  prison, 
and  the  girl  sent  to  the  Hotol-Dieu,  where  not  a 
demon  dared  enter.  The  infernal  crew  took  their 
revenge  by  creating  a  severe  influenza  among  the 
citizens.-^ 

K  there  are  no  Canadian  names  on  the  calendar 
of  saints,  it  is  not  because  in  by-ways  and  obscure 
places  Canada  had  not  virtues  worthy  of  canoniza- 
tion. Not  alone  her  male  martyrs  and  female 
devotees,  whose  merits  have  found  a  chronicle  and 
arecoornition ;  not  the  fantastic  devotion  of  Madame 
d'Aillebout,  who,  lest  she  should  not  suffer  enough, 
took  to  herself  a  vicious  and  refractory  servant 
girl,  as  an  exercise  of  patience ;  and  not  certainly 
the  mediaeval  pietism  of  Jeanne  Le  Ber,  the  ven- 

i  Marie  de  I'Incarnation,  Leltre  de  —  Sept.,  1661. 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


V.J. 


1.0 


I.I 


IM  IIM 


12.2 


■^  l~    ill 

2.0 


Uf 


1.8 


1.25     1.4   |i.6 

4 6" 

► 

% 


v^ 


"3 


A 


« 


°>  > 


y 


/A 


Hiotographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  S72-4503 


356 


PRIESTS  AND  PEOPLE. 


[1002-1714. 


m 


mi 


tttE 


erated  recluse  of  Montreal.  There  are  otliers  finite 
as  worthy  of  lionor,  whose  names  have  (I'kmI  tVom 
memory.  It  is  (lillieult  to  conceive  a  soll-ahiu"'-!- 
tion  more  compk'te  than  that  of  the  hospital  iiiiiisof 
Quebec  and  Montival.  In  tlie  ahnost  total  ahsciice 
of  trained  and  skilled  physicians,  the  buideii  o!  the 
sick  and  woun(k'd  fell  upon  them.  Of  the  two  (om- 
munities.  that  of  Montreal  was  the  more  wivtch- 
edly  destitute,  while  that  of  Quebec  was  exposed. 
perhaps,  to  greater  (hmgers.  Nearly  every  ship 
from  France  brought  some  form  of  infection,  jiiui 
all  infection  found  its  way  to  the  Jlntel-Dii'ii  of 
Quebec.  The  nuns  died,  but  they  never  comphiiiUMl. 
Removed  from  the  arena  of  ecclesiastical  strife,  too 
busy  for  the  morbidness  of  the  cloister,  too  imicli 
absorbed  in  practical  benevolence  to  becomo  the 
prey  of  illusions,  they  and  their  sister  coiuinmiity 
were  models  of  that  benign  and  tendcn*  charitv  of 
which  the  lioiuan  Catholic  C'hurch  is  so  rich  in 
examples.  Nor  should  the  Ursulines  and  tlio  aims 
of  the  CouLireiration  be  for<j:otten  aiiioim'  those 
who.  in  another  field  of  labor,  have  toiled  ])atieiitly 
accordinir  to  their  light. 

Mademoiselle  Jeanne  Le  T5er  belonged  to  none 
of  these  sisterhoods.  She  was  the  favorite  daughter 
of  the  chief  merchant  of  ^K)ntival,  the  same  who. 
with  till'  helj)  of  his  money,  got  hims(»lf  ennol)h'<l, 
She  seems  to  have  been  a  girl  of  a  fine  and  sciisitivc 
nature;  ard-ut,  atVectionate,  and  extremely  sih- 
ceptible  to  religious  imj)i'essions.  IJeligion  a'  last 
gained  absolute  sway  over  her.  Nothing  <'(>iiM 
api)ease   her  longings  or  content  the  (lemaiids  ot 


1662-1714.] 


JEANNE  LE   BER. 


357 


liei'  oxcitod  conscience  bnt  an  entire  consecration 
of  herself  to  heaven.  Constituted  as  she  was,  the 
resohition  must  liave  cost  her  an  agony  of  mental 
coiillict.  Her  story  is  a  strange,  and.  as  many  will 
think,  a  very  sad  one.  She  renounced  her  suitors, 
and  wished  to  renounce  her  inhei'itjince ;  but  her 
spiritual  directors,  too  far-sighted  to  permit  such 
II  sacrifice,  persuaded  her  to  hold  fast  to  her  claims, 
and  C(m tent  herself  with  what  they  called  "poverty 
of  ht.'art."  Her  mother  di(Ml,  and  her  father,  left 
with  a  family  of  young  children,  greatly  needed 
her  help;  but  slie  refused  to  leave  her  chamber 
where  she  had  immured  herself.  Here  she  re- 
iiiiiined  ten  years,  seeing  nobody  but  her  confessor 
and  the  girl  who  brought  her  food.  Once  only  she 
emerged,  and  this  was  when  her  brother  lay  dead 
in  the  adjacent  room,  killed  In  a  light  with  the 
English.  She  suddetdy  appeared  before  her  aston- 
ished sisters,  stood  for  a  moment  in  silent  prayer 
by  the  body,  and  then  vanished  without  uttering  a 
word.  '^  Sucli,"  says  her  modern  biographer,  "  was 
die  sublimity  of  her  virtue  and  the  grandeur  of 
her  soul."  Not  content  with  this  domestic  seclu- 
sion, she  caused  a  cell  to  be  nuidc  behind  the  altar 
in  the  newly  built  church  of  the  Congregation, 
and  here  we  will  permit  ourselves  to  cast  a  stolen 
gliuice  at  her  through  the  narrow  opening  through 
which  food  was  |)assed  in  to  her.  Her  bed.  a  pile 
of  sti'aw  which  she  never  moved,  lest  it  should 
hc'oiiie  too  soft,  was  so  placed  that  her  head  could 
touch  the  partition,  that  alone  separated  it  iVoni 
the  Host  on  the  altar.     Here  she  lay  wrapped  in 


358 


TKIKSTS   AND   PEOPLE. 


[IGOli-lTU. 


a  garment  of  coarse  gray  serge,  worn,  tatlcrerlj 
and  unwashed.  An  old  blanket,  a  stool,  a  spinning''' 
wheel,  a  belt  and  shirt  of  haircloth,  a  sc()uru:e.  and 
a  pair  of  shoes  made  by  herself  of  the  husks  of 
Indian-corn,  appear  to  have  formed  the  sum  of 
her  fm-niture  and  her  wardrobe.  Her  eiupky- 
ments  were  spinning  and  working  embroidoiy  for 
churches.  She  remained  in  this  voluntary  prison 
about  twenty  years;  and  the  nun  who  brought lier 
food  testifies  that  she  never  omitted  a  mortilicalioii 
or  a  prayer,  though  connnonly  in  a  stat(;  of  pro- 
found depression,  and  what  her  biographer  calls 
"  complete  spiritual  aridity." 

When  her  mother  died,  she  had  refused  to  see 
her;  and,  long  after,  no  prayer  of  her  dying  father 
could  draw  her  from  her  cell.  ''In  the  person  of 
this  modest  virgin,"  writes  her  reverend  eulogist, 
"  we  see,  with  astonishment,  the  love  of  (Jod 
trium})hant  over  earthly  affection  for  parents,  and 
a  complete  victory  of  faith  over  reason  and  of 
grace  over  nature." 

in  1711,  Canada  was  threatened  with  an  atinck 
by  the  English;  and  she  gave  the  nuns  of  the 
Congregation  an  image  of  the  V^irgin  on  whi(  li  >^\iii 
had  written  a  [)rayer  to  protect  their  granaiy  from 
the  invaders.  Other  persons,  anxious  for  a  sinidar 
protection,  sent  her  images  to  wi'ite  upon  ;  bnt 
she  declined  the  i'e((uest.  One  of  the  disappoinU'd 
applicants  then  stole  the  inscribed  image  from  iho 
granary  ot  the  Congregation,  intending  to  phico  it 
on  his  own  when  the  dani»er  drew  near.  The 
English,  however,  did  not  come,  their  licet  having 


1662- 17U.] 


JEANNE  LE  BER. 


359 


IS  for  a  similar 


suffered  a  ruinous  shipwreck  ascribed  to  the  prayers 
of  Jeanne  Le  Ber.  ''  It  was,"  writes  the  Sulpitian 
Ui'liiiont,  ^'  the  greatest  miracle  that  ever  happened 
since  the  days  of  Moses."  Nor  was  this  tlie  only 
luiracle  of  which  she  was  the  occasion.  She  her- 
self declared  that  once  when  she  had  broken  her 
spinning- wheel,  an  angel  came  and  mended  it  for 
her.  Angels  also  assisted  in  her  embroidery,  ''  no 
<l()nbt,"  sa\^s  Mother  Juchereaii,  "  taking  great 
pleasure  in  the  society  of  this  angelic  creature." 
hi  the  church  where  she  had  secluded  herself,  an 
iuuige  of  the  A^irgin  continued  after  her  death  to 
heal  the  lame  and  cure  the  sick.^ 

Tliough  she  rarely  permitted  herself  to  speak, 
yet  some  oracular  utterance  of  the  sainted  recluse 
would  now  and  then  escape  to  the  outer  world. 
One  of  these  was  to  tlie  effect  that  teaching  poor 
girls  to  read,  indess  they  wanted  to  be  nuns,  was 
robbing  them  of  their  time.  Nor  was  she  far 
wrong,  for  in  Canada  there  was  very  little  to  read 
ex''e])t  formulas  of  devotion  and  lives  of  saints. 
The  dangerous  innovation  of  a  printing-pi'css  had 
not  invaded  the  colony,"  and  the  first  Canadian 
newspaper  dates  from  the  British  conquest. 

All  education  was  controlled  by  priests  or  nuns. 
The  ablest  teachers  in  Canada  were  the  Jesuits. 
Their  college  of  Quebec  was  three  years  older  than 


'  raillon.  // ffi'miiir  rhn'limnc  dn  Canntla^on  Vie  dcMKe.  Lc  licr.  This 
is  !i  most  c'liihoriito  aiitl  oulofiistic  life  of  tlie  recluse.  A  slmrter  account 
ofliiT  will  he  found  in  Jucliereau,  ll6ui-l)itu.  biie  died  in  1714,  at  the 
age  of  lU"t\  -two. 

'^  A  jtiintiiig-press  was  afterwards  brought  to  Canada,  but  was  soon 
Bent  back  again. 


3G0 


PHIKSTS  AND   PEOPLE. 


[16G;}-1763. 


*•'. 


m 


s:.- 


P 


Harvard.  We  hoar  at  an  early  date  of  puhlic 
disputations  by  the  ])ii[)ils,  alter  the  pattern  of 
those  touniaiiuMits  of  barren  logic  which  preceded 
the  reign  of  inductive  reason  in  Europe,  and  of 
which  the  archety])e  is  to  be  found  in  the  scholastic 
duels  of  the  Sorbonne.  The  boys  were  sometimes 
perndtted  to  act  certain  approved  (h'aniatic  pieces 
of  a  religious  character,  like  the  Scfge  VlsUyn- 
naire.  On  one  occasion  they  were  allowed  to  pLiv 
the  Cid  of  Corneille,  which,  though  reniarkal)lc  ;is 
a  literary  Avork,  contained  nothing  threatening  to 
orthodoxy.  They  were  taught  a  little  Latin,  u 
little  rhetoric,  and  a  little  logic;  but  against  all 
that  might  rouse  the  hundties  to  independent  action, 
the  Canadian  schools  prudently  closed  their  doors. 
Therc^  was  then  no  rival  population,  of  a  ditVcrciit 
origin  and  a  different  faith,  to  compel  competition 
in  the  race  of  intellii'ence  and  knowledu'c.  The 
church  stood  sole  mistress  of  the  Held.  Undv'r  the 
old  reu'ime  the  real  ol)iect  of  education  in  Canada, 
was  a  religious  and,  in  far  less  degree,  a  ])olitieal 
one,  The  true  pur])()se  of  the  schools  was:  lii-st, 
to  make  priests  ;  and,  secondly,  to  make  obedient 
servants  of  the  church  and  the  king.  All  the  iv^i 
was  extraneous  and  of  slight  account.  Jn  regai'l 
to  this  matter,  the  king  and  the  bishop  were  of 
one  mind.  ''As  1  have  been  informed,"  Lonis 
Xl\^  writes  to  Laval,  ''of  yonr  contiiuied  care  to 
hold  the  people  in  their  duty  towards  Cod  and 
towards  me  by  the  good  education  you  give  or 
cause  to  be  given  to  the  young,  1  write  this  letter 


1663-1763.] 


THE  INDUSTRIAL   SCHOOL. 


361 


to  express  my  satisfaction  witli  conduct  so  salutar}', 
and  to  exiiort  you  to  persevere  in  it."  ^ 

The  bishop  did  not  fail  to  persevere.  The  school 
for  boys  attached  to  his  seminary  became  the  most 
important  educational  institution  in  Canada.  It 
was  rei^ulated  by  thirty-four  rules,  "  in  honor  of 
the  thirty-four  years  wliicii  Jesus  lived  on  earth." 
Tlie  qualities  connnended  to  the  boys  as  those 
which  they  should  labor  diligently  to  acquire  were, 
'•'humility,  obedience,  purity,  meekness,  modesty, 
siiuplicity,  chastity,  charity,  and  an  iirdent  love  of 
Jesus  and  his  Holy  Mother."  ^  Here  is  a  goodly 
roll  of  Christian  virtues.  What  is  chiefly  noticeable 
in  it  is,  that  truth  is  allowed  no  place.  That  manly 
bill  unacconnnodating  virtue  was  not,  it  seems, 
thought  important  in  forming  the  mind  of  youth, 
liiunility  and  obedience  lead  the  list,  for  in  unques- 
tioning submission  to  the  spiritual  dkector  lay  the 
guaranty  of  all  other  merits. 

We  have  seen  already  that,  besides  this  seminary 
for  hoys.  Laval  established  another  for  educating 
tlic  huuibler  colonists.  It  was  a  sort  of  farm-school, 
llioiii-'h  besides  farming  various  mechanical  trades 
\\v\v,  also  taught  in  it.  It  was  well  adapted  to 
\\iv  wants  of  a  great  luajority  of  Canadians,  whose 
tendencies  were  any  thing  but  bookish ;  but  here, 
MS  elsewhere,  the  real  object  v.as  religious.  It 
enahlod  the  church  to  extend  her  influence  over 
dashes  which  the  ordiuary  schools  could  not  reach. 
Besides  manual  training,  tlie  pupils  were  taught  to 


'  /,'  /\oi/  it  lj<ival,  \)  Airil,  It'ifi?  (extract  in  Fnillon). 

■  Ancim  r^</lcintnt  da  Petit  ^e'lniimire  dt  Quebec,  seeAbeille  VIII.,  no.  32. 


3G2 


PRIKSTS  AND  PEOPLE. 


[16C3-17G.3. 


<<f* 


m  ■ 


t^ 


i 

i- 


read  and  Avritc  ;  and  for  a  time  a  certain  numlunof 
them  received  some  instruction  in  Latin.  AVlun. 
in  1086,  Saint-Vallier  visited  the  school,  he  fouiid 
in  all  thirty-one  boys  under  the  charge  ol"  twi. 
priests;  but  the  number  "svas  afterwards  grcnilv 
reduced,  and  the  place  served,  as  it  still  serves, 
chiefly  as  a  retreat  during  vacations  for  the  priests 
and  pupils  of  the  seminary  of  Quebec.  A  spot 
better  suited  for  such  a  purpose  cannot  be  con- 
ceived. 

From  the  vast  meadows  of  the  parish  of  S^. 
Joachim,  that  here  border  the  St.  Lawrence,  there 
rises  like  an  island  a  low  Hat  hill,  hedged  roiiii(! 
with  forests  like  the  tonsured  head  of  a  monk.  It 
was  here  that  Laval  planted  his  school.  Across 
the  meadows,  a  mile  or  more  distant,  towers  tlie 
mountain  promontory  of  Cape  Tourmeiite.  Yon 
may  climb  its  woody  steeps,  and  from  the  ioy-, 
waist-deep  in  blueberry-bu  dies,  survey,  from  Ka- 
mouT\aska  to  Quebec,  tie  grand  Canadian  worlil 
outstretched  below;  or  mount  the  nei*.hl)oriii^' 
heights  of  St.  Anne,  where,  athwart  the  gaunt 
arms  of  ancient  pines,  the  river  lies  shimmering  in 
summer  ha/e,  the  eottaucs  of  the//^//>//r/i»i»/.sarestriini!' 
like  beads  of  a  rosaiy  along  the  meadows  of  IJeaii- 
])re,  the  shores  of  Orleans  bask  in  warm  light,  anJ 
far  on  the  horizon  tire  rock  of  Queljec  rests  hke  a 
faint  gray  cloud;  or  traverse  the  forest  till  tlio 
roar  of  the  torrent  guides  you  to  the  rocky  sohtiule 
where  it  holds  its  savage  revels.  High  on  the 
cliil's  jd)()ve,  young  birch-trees  stand  siuiling  in  the 
morning  sun  ;  while  in  the  abyss  beneath  the  snowy 


1663-1768.] 


SAINT  ANNE. 


3G3 


walors  plunge  from  doptli  to  doptli,  and,  luilt  way 
down,  the  «londor  liare-bell  Langs  from  its  mossy 
nook,  quivering  in  the  steady  thunder  of  the 
c;i*:iract.  Game  on  the  river  ;  trout  in  hdvcs, 
brooks,  and  pools  ;  ^vild  fruits  and  flowers  on 
meadows  and  riountains,  —  a  thousand  resoui'ces 
of  honest  and  wholesome  reereatiou  here  wait  the 
t^tiident  euianeipated  from  books,  but  not  parted 
fur  a  moment  froui  the  i)ious  inlhion^'O  that  haiius 
about  the  old  walls  euibosomed  in  the  woods  of 
St.  Joaehini.  Around  on  plains  and  hills  stand 
the  dwellings  of  a  peaeet'ul  peasanti"\ ,  as  different 
from  the  restless  population  of  the  neighboring 
states  as  the  denizens  of  some  2Sorman  or  Breton 
vJHage. 

Above  all,  do  not  fjiil  to  make  your  pilgrimage 
to  the  shrine  of  St.  Anne.  You  may  see  her 
chapel  four  or  live  miles  aw^ay,  nestled  under  the 
heights  of  the  Petit  Cap.  Here,  when  Aillebout 
Avas  governor,  he  began  with  his  own  hands  the 
pious  work,  aud  a  kahitant  of  Beaupre,  Louis 
(iiiiuiont,  sorely  aillicted  with  rheumatism,  eame 
uriniiing  with  pain  to  lay  three  stones  in  the 
foundation,  in  honor  pro])al)ly  of  Saint  Anne, 
Saint  Joachim,  and  their  daughter,  the  Virgin.  In- 
.4aiitly  he  was  cured.  It  was  but  the  beginning  of 
ii  h)ng  course  of  miracles  continued  moi'C  than  two 
centuries,  and  continuing  still.  Their  fame  spread 
tur  and  wide.  The  devotion  to  Saint  Anne  became 
a  distinguishing  feature  of  Canadian  Catholicity,  till 
at  the  present  day  at  least  thirteen  parishes  bear 
her  name.     But  of  all  her  shrines  none  can  match 


3Gi 


riUKSTS  AND  rEurLK. 


[16fi8-17tJ.3. 


OK 


the  fjinie  of  St.  Anne  du  Petit.  Cap.  (Vowds 
Hocked  thither  on  the  week  of  her  festiv.il.  mik] 
mnrvellous  cures  were  wrought  uneeiisiuulv .  as 
the  sticks  and  crutches  haniiiiiu,"  on  the  walls  niid 
coluuuis  still  attest.  Sonietiuies  the  whole  sliorc 
was  covered  with  tlu^  wi«^"waius  of  Indian  converts 
who  had  paddled  their  hirch  canoes  from  tlic 
farthest  wilds  of  Canaihi.  The  more  fcivcnt 
amoim'  them  would  crawl  on  their  knees  from  die 
shore  to  the  altar.  And,  in  our  own  dav,  cverv 
sunnuer  a  far  greater  concourse  of  pilgrims,  nut 
in  paint  i\\\(\  feathers,  hut  in  cloth  and  milliniirv, 
and  not  in  canoes,  bnt  in  steand^oats,  bring  tlieir 
ol'feriniis  and  tlieir  vows  to  the  "  Bonne  Saiaie 
Anne."* 

To  return  to  Laval's  indnstrial  school.  Jiidu'inu' 
from  repeated  complaints  of  governoi's  and  iiitend- 
ants  of  the  dearth  of  skilled  workmen,  the  piiests 
in  char<2:e  of  it  were  mon^  successful  in  makinii* 
good  Catholics  than  in  making  good  masons,  e;u'- 
penters,  blacksmiths,  and  weavers;  and  the  innn- 
ber  of'pnpils,  even  if  Avell  trained,  was  at  no  time 
sullicient   to  meet  tiie  wants  of  the  colonv;'"  tor, 

A. 

though    the    Canadians    showed    an    aptitude    tor 


1  For  ;ui  intercstiiitr  account  of  tlic  slirine  at  the  IVtit  Tap,  sco  Cas- 
grain,  Lr  /V/i<'iiii(i(i<  d  la  Himue  iSdinlf  Anni',  a  little  iiiaiiual  ai'  (levmiDii 
printed  at  Quebec.  1  cliancect  to  visit  tlie  old  chapel  in  ISTI.  diuiiviii 
meeting  of  tiie  parish  to  consider  the  question  of  reconstructiii.:  it,  as 
it  was  in  a  ruinous  state.  I'ussing  that  way  ajjain  two  years  atur,  I 
found  the  old  chajjel  still  standing,  and  a  new  one,  much  larger,  hall 
finished. 

-  Most  of  them  were  moreover  retained,  after  leaving?  tlie  school,  hy 
the  seminary,  as  servants,  farmers,  or  vassals.  La  Tour,  Vie  d"  ImvuI, 
Liv.  VI, 


1603-1763.1 


RESULTS. 


365 


mt'C'lianical  trades,  they  preferred  above  all  things 
the  savage  liberty  of  the  backwoods. 

The  education  of  girls  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
Ursnlines  and  the  nuns  of  the  Congregation,  of 
whom  the  fornierj  besides  careful  instruction  in 
religious  duties,  taught  their  pupils  "all  that  a  girl 
oiiiiht  to  know."'  This  meant  exceedin(j:lv  little 
besides  the  manual  arts  suited  to  their  sex;  and, 
ill  the  case  of  the  nuns  of  the  Congregation,  who 
tiuight  girls  of  the  ])oorer  class,  it  meant  still  less. 
It  was  on  nuns  as  well  as  on  priests  that  the  charge 
fell,  not  only  of  spiritual  and  mental,  but  also  of 
iii(histrial,  trainin*;*.  Thus  we  find  the  kiuL"'  liivino: 
to  a  sisterhood  of  Montreal  a  thousand  francs  to 
buy  wool,  and  a  tho  isand  more  for  teaching  girls 
to  knit.''^  The  king  also  maintained  a  teacher  of 
navigation  and  surveying  at  Quebec  on  the  modest 
salnrv  of  four  hundred  francs. 

During  the  eighteenth  century,  some  improve- 
ment is  perceptible  in  the  mental  state  of  the 
po[)ulation.  As  it  became  more  nimierous  and 
more  stable,  it  also  became  less  ignorant ;  and  the 
Canadian  hahitrmt,  towards  the  end  of  the  French 
I'lile,  was  probal)ly  better  taught,  so  far  as  concerned 
jeligion,  than  the  mass  of  French  peasants.  Yet 
secular  instruction  was  still  extremely  meagi'C,  even 
•in  the  nohlesse.  ''  In  spite  of  this  defective  educa- 
tion," says  the  famous  navigator,  Bougainville,  who 
knew  the  colony  well  in  its  last  years,  "  the  Cana- 


'  A  lire,  u  ecrire,  les  pricrcs,  Ics  nioeurs  chrctiennes,  ct  tout  ce  qu'une 
k'  doit  savoir.     Marie  <le  I'hu'aruation,  Lettre  du  U  Aout,  1008. 
-'  Deiionville  au  Minislie,  13  Nov.,  1085. 


3GC 


TRIKSTS  AND  TKOPLE. 


110(13-1703. 


«■ 
tsx. 
m 

r- 

!■■ 
t 


dians  are  naturally  iiilolH«,^ont.  They  do  not  know 
liow  to  write,  but  they  speak  with  ease  and  with 
an  aceent  as  good  as  the  Parisjini."'  lie  nic.uis 
of  eourse,  the  better  elass.  ^' Even  the  chilihcn 
of  oftieers  and  gentlemen,"  says  another  wiitiM*, 
"  seareely  know  how  to  read  and  write  ;  they  aio 
ignorant  of  the  first  elements  of  geogi'aphy  and 
history."''^  And  evidence  like  this  might  he  ex- 
tended. 

When  France  was  heaving  with  the  tliioos 
that  prepared  the  Revolution  ;  when  new  hopes, 
new  dreams,  new  thoughts,  —  good  and  evil,  false 
and  true,  —  tossed  the  troubled  waters  of  iueiieli 
society,  Canada  caught  something  of  its  soeial 
corruption,  but  not  the  faintest  impulsion  of  its 
roused  mental  life.  The  torrent  surged  on  its 
way ;  while,  in  the  deep  nook  beside  it,  the  sticks 
and  dry  leaves  floated  their  usual  round,  and  tlie 
mn-uflled  pool  slept  in  the  placidity  of  intellectual 
torpor.^ 

^  Boupainville,  ^F^moirfi  He  1757  (see  Marpry,  Ixehttions  in^litix). 

2  M^inuirede  1730;  iMluildetoute  la  Culonte  (publislieil  by  Hist.  Soo.  of 
Quebec.) 

'^  Several  Fronclimon  of  a  certain  ii)tellectiial  eminence  niiidc  tlieir 
abode  in  Canada  from  time  to  time.  The  chief  amonj;  tiieni  mc  tlio 
Jesuit  Lalitau,  author  of  Mdiirs  (hs  Sdiivaf/fs  A lui'iica ins ;  thi'  >U's\ut 
Charlevoix,  traveller  and  historian  ;  the  physician  Sarrazin  ;  ami  tlic 
Marquis  de  la  (Jalisonniore,  the  most  eniij;htencd  of  the  French  gover- 
nors of  Canada.  Sarrazin,  a  naturalist  as  well  as  a  physicinn,  lias  lift 
his  name  to  the  botanical  genus  K^dirdnnia,  of  which  the  curimis  .Aiiar- 
ican  species,  5.  jmrpurea,  the  "  i)itcher-plant,'''  was  described  liy  liim. 
His  position  in  the  colony  was  singular  and  characteristic,  lie  ^^nt  little 
or  no  pay  from  his  patients  ;  and,  though  at  one  time  the  only  i^tiiuine 
physician  in  Canada  (('ullierts  et  Btdu/uhiiuis  (in  Ml)iislie,  o  A"/'.,  liC-). 
he  was  dependent  on  the  king  for  support.  In  ItiU'J,  we  tln<l  hiui  thank- 
ing his  Majesty  for  300  franco  u  year,  and  asking  at  the  same  time  for 


1CC3-1708.] 


MICHEL  SARHAZIN. 


367 


nioro,  n»  lie  hns  notliiiiR  else  to  live  on.  ( Cdllhrpx  rl  CfmrnpH/mf  mt  }finistre, 
20  (frt.,  ItiU'J.)  Two  yoars  liitor  tlio  governor  writes  that,  us  he  serves 
alinnsf  everybody  without  fees,  lie  oiiKht  to  have  another  mo  franes. 
{Had.,  r>  Ort.,  1701.)  The  additional  ;;0U  franes  was  jjiven  him  ;  hut,  tind- 
in(r  it  iiD^uttieient.  he  wanted  to  leave  the  eolony.  "He  i.s  too  useful," 
writi's  the  K<»vt'rnor  again  :  "  we  eaiinot  let  him  go."  lli.s  yearly  pittance 
ot  t;no  francs,  Freneli  money,  was  at  one  time  re-enforeed  hy  his  salary  as 
monilter  of  the  Superior  Council,     He  died  at  Quebec  in  17i]4. 


CHAPTER   XX. 


1 


^^i;:.. 


as: 


16-10-1763. 

MORALS   AND   MANNERS. 

Social  Ixflukxck  of  the  Tnoors.  —  A  Pktty  Tyrant. — Brawls. 
—  Violence  and  Oltlawuy.  —  State  (f  the  Poi'i:latio\. — 
Views  of  Denonville.  —  Brandy.  —  BEOti.MJY.  —  The  Past  and 
THE  Present.  —  Inns.  —  State  of  Quehec.  —  Fihks.  —  The 
Country  Paimshes.  —  Slavei{Y. —  Views  of  La  IIont.vn.  —  Of 
lIocyuAUT.  —  Of  Bougainville.  —  Of  Kal?i.  —  Of  Ch\klj;voix. 

^  The  mission  period  of  Canada,  or  the  period 
anterior  to  the  year  1663,  when  the  king  took  the 
colony  in  charge,  has  a  character  of  its  own.  Tlio 
whole  population  did  not  exceed  that  of  a  large 
French  village.  Its  extreme  poverty,  the  constant 
danger  that  surrounded  it,  and,  above  all,  the  von- 
tagious  zenl  of  the  missionaries,  saved  it  froiii 
many  vices,  and  inspired  it  with  an  extraordiiuirv 
religious  fervor.  .Without  doubt  an  ideal  plctiUT 
has  been  drawn  of  this  early  epoch.  Trade  as 
w^ell  as  propngandism  was  the  business  of  the 
colonv,  and  the  colonists  were  far  from  bein*r  all  in 
a  state  of  grace ;  yet  it  is  certain  that  zeiil  was 
higlier,  devotion  more  constant,  and  popular  morals 
more  pure,  than  at  any  later  period  of  the  Freneli 
rule. 

The  intervention  of  the  king  wrought  n  cliiuigo. 
The  annual  shipments  of  emigrants  made  In  liini 


16Gr,-73.] 


CHANGE  OF  MANNERS. 


369 


X  Tl'RA^T.— Blt.VMLS. 
'    TUK    Poi'lIL\TIOS.  — 

^iiY  __TnE  Past  and 
;HEC.  —  FiHKS.  --  The 
OF  La  IIontas.  — Ot 

jI._OF    CUVHLKVOIX. 

a,  or  tlie  i)eru)(l 
lie  king  took  the 
ci  its  own.    The 
I  that  of  a  large 
erty,  tlic  constant 
bove  all,  the  con- 
s,  saved  it  iruiU 
an  extraoi'diiuiry 
an  Ideal  picture 
epoch.     Trade  as 
business   of    tlu' 
from  bcin.u:  all  m 
lin  that  zeal  xvas 
.nd  popular  morals 

lod  of  the  French 

wrought  a  elianiio. 
ants  made  b}  liiui 


were,  in  the  most  favorable  view,  of  a  very  mixed, 
cliai'acter,  and  the    portion  which   Mother   Mary 
ciills  canaille  was  but  too  conspicuous.   Along  with 
tliciu  came  a  regiment  of  soldiers  fresh  from  the 
Ik ciise  of  camps  an  .  the  excitements  of  Turkish 
wars,  accustomed  to  obey  their  ofiicers  and  to  obey 
inthing  else,  and  more  ready  to  weiir  the  scapulary 
of  the  Virgin  in  campaigns  against  the  Mohawks 
tlinii  to  square  their  lives  by  the  rules  of  Christian 
ethics.  )*"  Our  good  king,"  writes  Sister  Morin,  of 
Montreal,  ^'  has  sent  troops  to  defend  us  from  the 
]ro(|uois   and  the  soldiers  and  olhcers  have  ruined 
the  Lord's  vineyard,  and  planted  wickedness  and 
sin  and  crime  in  our  soil  of  (Janada."J^/  Few,  in- 
deed, among  the  oilicers  followed  the  example  of 
one  of  their  nundjcr,  Paul  Dupuy,  Avho,   in   his 
settlement  of  Isle  aux  Oies,  below  Quebec,  lived,  it 
is  said,  like  a  saint,  and  on  Sundays  and  fete  days 
exhorted    his    servants    and    hahltans    with   such 
unction  that  their  eyes  fdled  with  tears.^     Nor,  let 
us  hope,  were  there  manv  imitators  of  ^hijor  La 
Frediere,  who,  with  a  couipany  of  the  regiment, 
was  sent  to  garrison  Montreal,  where  he  ruled  with 
ahsolute  sway  over  settlers  and  soldier^  alike.    His 
eoantenance  naturally  repulsive  was  made  more  so 
by  the  loss  of  an  eye;  yet  he  was  irrepressible  in 
;;allantry,  and  women  and  gii'ls  (led  in  terror  from 
lilt'  niilitai'v  rolvi)henuis.     The   nu'u,  too.  feared 
and  hated  him,  not  without  reason.     One  morning 
a  settler  named  DenuMs  was  hoeing  his  held,  when 

•  Anudlrs  dc  riloUl-Ihiu  >;   .InH>j>li,  citi'd  Ity  Faillon. 
>*  JuclieiViiu,  I/6til/)teh  (l<  Qii^lxv,  511 

24 


370 


MORALS  AND   MANNERS. 


[l(i<;3-73. 


jtt! 


I 


he  saw  n  sportsman  ^un  in  band  stridinu"  tlivoucr}. 
his  half-iiTown  wheat.  '*  Steady  there,  sto.'idv." 
he  sliouted  in  a  tone  of  renionstraiiee  ;  l)iii  the 
sportsman  gave  no  heed.  '•  Why  do  you  spoil  a 
poor  man's  wheat?  "  cried  the  outraged  cultivator. 
^'  If  1  knew  who  you  were,  I  would  go  aud  com- 
plain of  you."  *••  Whom  would  you  complain  toV" 
demanded  the  s])ortsman,  who  then  proceeded  to 
walk  back  into  the  middle  of  the  wheat,  and  callod 
out  to  Demers,  ''•  You  are  a  rascal,  and  Til  thrash 
you."  ''Look  at  home  for  rascals,"  retorted  De- 
mers, '^  and  keep  your  thrashing  for  your  do;is." 
The  sportsman  came  towards  him  in  a  rage  to 
execute  his  threat.  Demers  picked  up  his  gun, 
which,  alter  the  custom  of  the  time,  he  had 
brought  to  the  field  with  him,  and,  advaueiiig  to 
meet  his  jidyersary,  recoirnized  La  Frediere.  the 
commandant.  On  this  he  ran  olf.  La  Frediere 
sent  soldiers  to  arrest  him,  threw  Iiiui  into  ])i'is()ii. 
put  him  in  irons,  and  tlie  next  day  mounted  him 
on  the  wooden  horse,  with  a  weight  of  ^ixty 
pounds  tied  to  each  foot.  lie  repeated  the  torture 
a  day  or  two  after,  and  then  let  his  victim  uo,  sav- 
ing,  "  If  1  could  have  caught  you  Avheu  1  Avas  in 
your  wheat,  I  would  have  beaten  you  \v(dl." 
y  The  connnandant  next  turned  his  (|uarters  into 
a  dram-shop  for  Indians,  to  whom  he  sold  luaudy 
m  large  quantities,  but  so  diluted  that  his  eih- 
tomers,  finding  themselves  partially  defrauded  ot 
their  right  of  intoxication,  comjdained  grievously. 
About  this  time  the  intendant  Talon  made  one  of 
his  domiciliary  visits  to  Montreal,  and  when,  in  lii^ 


1GC3-73.1 


BRAWLS. 


371 


oluiracter  of  fjithor  of  the  people,  he  inqiiired  if 
they  had  any  complaints  to  make,  every  tongne 
w;is  lond  in  accusation  against  La  Frediere.  Talon 
caused  full  depositions  to  be  made  out  from  the 
statements  of  Demers  and  other  witnesses.  Copies 
wore  deposited  in  the  hands  of  the  notary,  and  it 
is  from  these  that  the  above  story  is  drawn.  The 
tyrant  was  removed,  and  ordered  home  to  France.^ 
Many  other  o dicers  embarked  in  the  profitable 
trade  of  selling  brandy  to  Indians,  and  several  gar- 
rison posts  became  centres  of  disorder.  Others, 
of  the  regiment  became  notorious  brawlers.  A  lieu- 
tenant of  the  garrison  of  Montretd  named  Carion, 
and  an  ensign  named  Morel,  liad  for  some  reason 
conceived  a  violent  grudge  against  another  ensign 
named  Lormeau.  On  Pentecost  day,  just  after 
vespers,  Lormeau  was  walking  by  the  river  with 
liis  wife.  They  had  passed  the  common  and  the 
seminary  wall,  and  were  in  front  of  tlie  house  of 
the  younger  Charles  Le  Moyne,  when  they  saw 
Carion  coming  towards  them.  He  stopped  before 
Lormeau,  looked  him  full  in  the  face,  and  ex- 
claimed, ''  Coward."  "  Coward  vourself,"  returned 
Lormeau;  ''take  yourself  off."  Carion  drew  his 
sword,  and  Lormeau  followed  his  exam])le.  They 
exchanged  a  few  passes  ;  then  closed,  and  fell  to  the 
p^round  grappled  together.  Lormeau's  wig  fell  off; 
and  Carion,  getting  the  uppermost,  hanunered  his 
bare  head  with  the  hilt  of  his  sword.     Lormeau's 


'  Information  contre  La  Frrdihr.  See  Faillon,  Colouie  Frnui;aise, 111. 
88t').  The  (liiilof^ue,  as  here  given  from  tlie  depositions,  is  translated 
as  closely  as  possible. 


372 


MORALS  AND  MANNERS. 


[1003-73. 


mr- 


wife,  in  a  frenzy  of  terror,  screamed  murder.  One 
of  the  neighbors,  Monsieur  Beletre,  was  at  luble 
with  Charles  Le  Moyne  and  a  Kochelle  niercliant 
named  Baston.  He  ran  out  with  his  two  guests 
and  they  tried  to  separate  the  combatants,  who 
still  lay  on  the  ground  foaming  like  a  pair  of  en- 
raged bull-dogs.  All  their  elforts  were  useless. 
"  A'ery  well,"  said  Le  Moyne  in  disgust,  ''  if  you 
won't  let  go,  then  kill  each  other  if  you  like."  A 
former  military  servant  of  Carionnow  ran  up.  and 
began  to  brandish  his  sword  in  behalf  of  his  late 
master.  Carion's  comrade,  Morel,  also  arrived, 
and,  regardless  of  the  angry  j^rotest  of  Le  Moyne, 
stabbed  repeatedly  at  Lormeau  as  he  lay.  Loi- 
meau  had  received  two  or  three  woiuids  in  the 
hand  and  arm  with  which  he  parried  the  thrusts, 
and  was  besides  severely  mauled  by  the  sword- 
hilt  of  Carion,  when  two  Sulpitian  priests,  drawn 
by  the  noise,  appeared  on  the  scene.  One  was 
Fremont,  the  cure ;  the  other  was  Dollier  de 
Casson.  That  herculean  father,  whose  past  soldier 
life  had  made  him  at  home  in  a  fray,  an<l  who 
cared  nothing  for  drawn  swords,  set  himself  at 
once  to  restore  peace,  ujjon  which,  whether  from 
the  strength  of  his  arm,  or  the  mere  effect  of  his 
presence,  the  two  chani[)ions  released  their  gripe 
on  each  other's  throats,  rose,  sheathed  their  wea- 
pons, and  left  the  field. ^ 
•  /  Montreal,  a  frontier  town  at  the  head  of  the 

1  Rctjuete  lie  Loniunn  a  M.  (VAUhhout.  Depositions  de  MM.  de 
/^ntfucuil  (U  Moyne),  lir  lUisiou,  de  Btleire,  it  antics.  Cited  b}' i'aillon, 
Colonie  Fianf^uise,  111.  UUc. 


1663-73.] 


THE   OUTLA'\\    OF  MONTREAL. 


373 


le  head  of  the 


colony,  was  the  nataral  resort  of  desperadoes, 
offering,  as  we  have  seen,  a  singular  contrast  be- 
tween the  rigor  of  its  clerical  seigniors  and  the 
riotoiisjicense  of  the  lawless  crew  which  infested  it^ 
Dollier  de  Casson  tells  the  story  of  an  outlaw  who 
broke  prison  ten  or  twelve  times,  and  whom  no 
Avails,  locks,  or  ■etters  could  hold.  "A  few  months 
ago,"  he  says,  "  he  was  caught  again,  and  put  into 
the  keeping  of  six  or  seven  men,  each  with  a  good 
o'lin.  They  stacked  their  arms  to  play  a  game  of 
cards,  which  their  prisoner  saw  fit  to  interrupt  to 
play  a  game  of  his  own.  He  made  a  jump  at 
the  guns,  took  them  under  his  arm  like  so  many 
feathers,  aimed  at  these  fellows  with  one  of  them, 
swearing  that  he  would  kill  the  first  who  came  near 
him,  and  so,  falling  back  step  by  step,  at  last  bade 
them  good-by,  and  carried  off  all  their  guns. 
Since  then  he  has  not  been  caught,  and  is  roaming 
the  woods.  Very  likely  he  will  become  chief  of 
our  banditti,  and  make  great  trouble  in  the  coim- 
t;y  when  it  pleases  him  to  come  back  from  the 
Dutch  settlements,  whither  they  say  he  is  gone 
along  with  another  rascal,  and  a  French  woman  so 
depraved  that  she  is  said  to  have  given  or  sold 
two  of  her  children  to  the  Indiaiis."^ 

When  the  governor.  La  Barre,  v  sited  Montreal, 
he  found  there  some  two  hund  -ed  repi'obates 
ij^aiiibUng,  drinking,  and  stealing.  If  hard  pressed 
l»y  justice,  they  had  only  to  cross  the  river  and 
])lace  themselves  beyond  the  seigniorial  jurisdic- 
tion. ;/*  The  military  settlements  of   the  Uiclielieu_ 

}  Dollier  de  Casson,  IJistoire  de  Montreal,  1G71-72. 


0-4 


ot 


MORALS   AND   MANNERS. 


[1070-'jO. 


p. 


were  in  a  condition  soniewiiat  .sinnlar,  and  La  l>;irre 
complains  of  a  ])re vailing  spirit  of  di>obedien('e  and 
lawlessness.^  Tlie  most  orderly  and  thrifty  purt 
of  Canada  a])pears  to  have  been  at  this  time  the 
cote  of  Buiiii42i*ej_belonging  to  the  seminaiy  of  (Que- 
bec. Here  the  settlers  had  religious  instruction 
from  their  cures,  and  industrial  instruction  ;ilsu  if 
thev  wanted  it.  Domestic  spinning  and  wei.viii''' 
were  practised  at  Beaupre  sooner  than  in  any 
other  part  of  the  colony^ 

y.}  When  it  is  remembered  that  a  population  which 
m  La  Barre's  time  did  not  exceed  ten  thousand, 
and  which  forty  years  later  did  not  nuich  exceed 
twice  that  nundjer,  was  scattered  along  both  sides 
of  a  great  river  for  three  hundred  miles  or  nioi'e ; 
that  a  large  part  of  this  ^Dopulation  was  in  isolated 
groups  of  two,  three,  live,  ten,  or  twenty  houses 
at  the  Q(\<xi}  of  a  savage  wilderness ;  that  between 
them  there  was  little  connnunication  except  hy 
canoes;  that  the  settlers  were  disbanded  soldiers, 
or  others  whose  lives  had  been  equally  adverse  to 
habits  of  reflection  or  self-control ;  that  thev  rarelv 
i^aw  a  ])riest,  and  that  a  government  onniii)olent  in 
name  had  not  arms  long  enough  to  reach  them. — 
we  may  listen  without  surprise  to  the  lamentations 
of  onler-loving  ollicials  over  the  unruly  comhtion 
of  a  great  part  of  the  colony.  One  accuses  the 
seigniors,  who,  he  says,  being  often  of  low  extrac- 
tion, cannot  keej)  their  vassals  in  order."  Another 
dwells  sorrowfully  on  the  *'  terrible  dispersion  "  of 

'   Afi  liarre  an  Miiiistrp,  4  Xoi\,  1083. 

<*  Catalogue,  M^moirc  address^  au  Ministre,  1712. 


1G70-«jO.] 


SOCIAL  DISORDER. 


375 


the  settlements  where  t!ie  iidiabitants  ''  live  in  a 
gavMti^niliipondence."'^  But  it  is  better  that  each 
should  speak  for  himself,  and  among  the  rest  let 
us  hear  the  pious  Denonville. 

"  This,  mon^eigneur,  seems  to  me  the  place  for 
roiidering  you  an  account  of  the  disorders  ^vhich 
prevail  not  only  in  the  woods,  but  also  in  the  settk^- 
mcnts.  They  arise  from  the  idleness  of  youn<'; 
persons,  and  the  great  liberty  Avhich  fathei-s, 
iiioiliers,  and  guardians  have  for  a  long  time  given 
them,  or  allowed  tlierii  to  assume,  of  going  into  the 
forest  under  pretence  of  hunting  or  trachng.  This 
has  come  to  such  a  pass,  that,  from  the  moment  a 
hoy  can  carry  a  gun,  the  father  cannot  restrain 
him  and  dares  not  offend  him.  You  can  iud^'e  the 
mischief  that  follows.  These  disorders  aie  ahvavs 
greatest  in  the  fanulies  of  those  who  are  (/entils- 
hommes,  or  who  through  laziness  or  vanity  pass 
themselves  off  as  such./ Having  no  resource  but 
hunting,  -^i^y  must  spend  their  lives  in  the  woods, 
where  they  have  no  cures  to  trouble  them,  and  no 
fathers  or  guardians  to  constrain  them.  I  thiidv, 
iiiunseigneur.  that  martial  law  would  suit  their 
case  better  than  any  judicial  sentence. 

••  Monsieur  de  la  Bju-re  su])pressed  a  certain  order 
of  knighthood  which  had  sprung  up  here,  .but  he 
<li<l  not  abolish  the  usafj:es  belon<>'ini>-  to  it.  'it  was 
thought  a  fine  thing  and  a  good  joke  to  go  about 
naked  and  tricked  out  like  Inchans,  not  onlv  on 
carnival  days,  but  on  all  other  days  of  feasting  and 
debauchery.  These  practices  tend  to  encoiu'age 
the  disposition  of  our  young  men  to  live  like  sav- 


376 


MORALS  AND  MANNERS. 


[1070-90. 


■m 


Si 


ages,  fi-eqiient  their  company,  and  be  for  over 
vuiruly  and  lawless  like  them.  1  cannot  tell  you, 
monseigneur,  how  attractive  this  Indian  life  is  (o 
Jill  our  youth.  It  consists  in  doiuii;  nothing,  ciiriu"' 
for  rotliin<jr,  followinii;  everv  inclination,  and  irettiii"' 
out  of  the  way  of  all  correction."  lie  goes  on  to 
say  that  the  mission  villages  governed  by  the  J<'s- 
iiife  and  Sulpitians  are  models  of  good  o  -dei'.  ;;ii(l 
that  drunkards  are  never  seen  there  except  \^  !icn 
they  come  from  the  neighboring  French  settk- 
mentj,^  but  that  the  other  Indians  who  roam  at 
large  about  the  colony,  do  prodigious  mischief,  be- 
cause the  children  of  the  seigniors  not  onlv  copy 
their  way  of  life,  but  also  riui  off  with  their  women 
into  the  woods/ 

"  Nothing,"  he  continues,  ''  can  be  finer  or  better 
conceived  than  the  reii:ulations  framed  for  the 
government  of  this  country;  but  nothing,  I  assure 
you,  is  so  ill  observed  as  regards  both  the  fur  trade 
am'  the  general  discipline  of  the  colony.  One 
great  evil  is  the  infinite  number  of  drinking-sbops, 
which  makes  it  almost  impossible  to  remedy  tbe 
disorders  resultinii:  from  them.  All  the  rascals 
and  idlers  of  the  country  are  attracted  into  tbis 
business  of  tavern-keeping.  They  never  dream  of 
tilling  the  soil ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  they  det(  r  tbe 
other  inhabitants  from    it,  and  end  with  ruining 


1  Raudot,  who  was  iiitomlant  early  in  tlie  oi^'litocMith  century,  is  a 
little  less  gloomy  in  his  colorint;,  hut  says  that  Canadian  chiUlrt'ii  wvic 
without  discipline  or  education,  had  no  respect  for  ])arents  or  cures,  mihI 
ownei  no  superiors.  This,  he  thinks,  is  owiufr  to  -'la  folle  tcndressc  ilts 
parents  qui  les  enipeche  de  les  corriger  et  de  leur  former  le  caractae 
qu'ils  ont  dur  et  teroee." 


1070-90.] 


SOCIAL  DISORDER. 


377 


tliom.  I  know  seigniories  where  there  are  hut 
twenty  houses,  and  more  than  liaU'  of  them  (ham 
shops.  At  Three  Rivers  there  are  twenty-iive 
liou;\.s,  and  liquor  may  he  had  at  eighteen  or 
twenty  of  them.  Villemarie  {Montreal)  and  Que- 
bec are  on  the  same  footing."  ^ 

The  governor  next  dwells  on  the  necessity  of 
finding  occupation  for  children  and  youths,  a  mat- 
ter which  lie  regards  as  of  the  last  importance. 
"It  is  sad  to  se^  the  ignorance  of  the  population 
at  a  distance  fi'om  the  abodes  of  the  cures,  who  are 
put  to  the  greatest  trouble  to  remedy  the  evil  by 
travelling  fi'om  place  to  place  through  the  parishes 
ill  their  charge."  ^ 

Lti  Bai're,  Cbampigny,  and  Duchesneau  write  in 
a  similar  strain.  Bishop  Saint-Vallier,  in  an  epis- 
toliiiy  journal  which  he  printed  of  a  tour  through 
^lie  colony  made  on  his  first  arrival,  gives  a  favor- 
able account  of  the  disposition  of  the  people,  espe- 
ciallv  as  re^rards  reli(2:ion.  Tie  afterwards  chanu'ed 
his  views.  An  abstract  made  from  his  letters  for 
the  use  of  the  king  states  that  he  "  represents,  like 
M.  Denonville,  that  the  Canadian  youth  are  for 
the  most  part  wholly  demoralized."  ^ 

"  The  bishop  was  very  sorry,"  says  a  corre- 
spondent of  the  minister  at  Quebec,  "  to  have  so 
much  exaggerated  in  the  letter  he  printed  at  Paris 
the  morality  of  the  people  here."  ^  He  preached 
a  sermon  on  the  sins  of  i\\Q  inhabitants  and  issued 
a  pastoral  mandate,  in  which  he  says,  '^  Before  we 


^  Dpiionville  an  Ministrr,  1,3  Nov.  1685. 
-  N.  Y.  Colonial  Documents,  IX.  278. 


3  [bid.,  IX.  388 


o^g 


Ot 


MORALS  AND   MANNERS. 


11670-90. 


ili;«r 


m 
as  ■ 


h 


t. 


knew  our  (lock  wo  thoug'ht  tliiit  the  English  mikI 
the  lioiiiiois  Avoro  the  only  wolves  we  had  to  lc;ir; 
hut  (J()(l  having  opened  our  eyes  to  the  disorders 
of  this  diocese,  and  made  ns  I'eel  more  than  vwv 
the  weight  of  our  ^e,  we  are  forced  to  couless 

that  our  most  dangerous  foes  are  druidveiiJies.s, 
luxury,  impurity,  and  slander."  ^ 

f'  Drunkeniiess  was  at  this  time  the  most  destruc- 
tive vice  in  the  colony.  One  writer  declares  that 
most  of  the  Canadians  drink  so  much  brandv  in 
the  morning,  that  they  are  unlit  for  work  all  day.- 
Anotiier  says  that  ji  canoe-man  when  he  is  tired 
will  lift  a  keg  of  hrandy  to  his  lips  and  drink  llie 
raw  liquor  from  the  bung-hole,  after  which,  having 
spoiled  his  appetite,  he  goes  to  bed  supj)erlcss; 
and  that,  what  with  drink  and  hardship,  he  is  an 
old  man  at  forty.  Nevertheless  the  race  did  not  de- 
teriorate. The  prevalence  of  early  marriages,  jnid 
the  birth  of  numerous  offspring  before  the  vigor  ol 
the  father  had  been  wasted,  ensured  the  strength  and 
hardihood  which  characterized  the  Canadians.  As 
Denonville  describes  them  so  they  long  remained. 
^'  The  Canadians  are  tall,  well-made,  and  well  set 
on  their  legs  {blen 2)lcintts  siir  leurs  jainbea)^  robust, 
viirorous,  and  accustomed  in  time  of  need  to  live 
on  little.  They  have  intelligence  and  vivacity, 
but  are  Avayw^ard,  light-minded,  and  inclined  to 
debauchery." 

^    As   the   population  increased,   as  the  rage  for 

1  Oidonnance  contre  les  vices  de  Vivrognerie,  luxe,  et  irnpuret^,  31  Oct., 
1690. 

2  N.  Y.  Culonial  Documents,  IX.  398. 


1070-1715.] 


IMrnOVKMKNT. 


379 


[IS  the  nigc  for 

re,  et  impurel^,  31  Oct., 


busli-rangin<^^  bo^^jin  to  {il)ato,  iiiid,  jibove  all,  as  the 
cin'os  iniiltij)lie<l,  a  cliann-o  took  place  I'or  the 
bottei'.  More  clHirclics  Avei'e  built,  the  cliargc  of 
each  priest  was  reduced  within  rcasoiifd)k'  bounds, 
and  a  greater  ])ro])orti()n  of  the  inhabitants  re- 
iiiaincd  on  their  i'arnis.  They  were  bettei*  watched, 
I'oiitrolk'd,  and  taught,  by  the  chin'(di.  The  eccle- 
siastical power,  wherever  it  had  a  hold,  was  exer- 
cised, as  we  have  seen,  with  an  undue  rigor,  yet  it 
was  the  chief  gujirdian  ol"  good  morals;  and  the 
colony  grew  more  orderly  and  more  tem])erate  as 
the  church  gathered  more  and  more  of  its  wild 
and  wandering  Hock  fairly  within  its  fold.  In 
this,  however,  its  success  was  but  rekitive.  It  is 
true  that  in  1715  a  weH-informed  writer  says  that 
the  people  were  '^  perfectly  instructed  in  religion ; "  ^ 
but  at  that  time  the  statement  was  only  partially 
true. 

During  the  seventeenth  century,  and  some  time 
after  its  close,  Canada  swarmed  with  beggars,  a 
siiiii:ular  feature  in  a  new  country  where  ii  good  farm 
could  be  had  for  the  asking.  In  countries  intensely 
koiuan  Catholic  begging  is  not  regarded  as  an  un- 
mixed evil,  being  supposed  to  promote  two  cardinal 
virtues,  —  charity  in  the  giver  and  humility  in  the 
receiver.  The  Canadian  othcials  nevertheless  tried 
to  restrain  it.  Vagabonds  of  both  sexes  were 
ordered  to  leave  Quebe'.-,  and  nobody  was  allowed 
to  beg  without  a  certificate  of  poverty  from  the 
cure  or  the  local  judge.-     These  orders  were  not 

I  Me'moire  address^  an  Ficijent. 
^  lle'ijii'mcnl  de  Police,  1076. 


380 


MOllALS   AND   MANNERS. 


[1070-1700. 


t 

If-- 


nlwMVs  obsorvod.  Bisliop  Sjiiiit-Vallicr  writes  that 
111'  is  overwhelmed  by  be<i:^'ars,'  and  the  intendaiit 
echoes  Ins  ooni|daint.  Ahnshouses  were  estal)- 
lished  at  INrontreal,  Three  Kivers,  and  Quebec  ;'- 
and  when  Saint-Nallier  founckMl  tlie  (jleneral  llos- 
pitab  its  chiet"  ])urj)ose  was  to  serve,  not  as  a  lios- 
])ital  ill  tlie  ordinarv  sense  of  the  word,  hut  as  a 
house  of  refuge,  after  the  plan  of  the  (Jeiu'ial 
IloN])ital  of  Paris.^  Appeal,  as  usual,  was  made  to 
the  king.  Denonville  asks  his  aid  for  two  desti- 
tute families,  and  savs  that  many  others  need  it. 
Louis  Xl\'.  did  not  fail  to  respond,  Jind  from  time 
to  time  he  sent  considerable  sums  for  the  relief  of 
the  Tanadian  poor.** 

/  Denonville  says,  "  The  principal  reason  ol  the 
poverty  of  this  country  is  the  idleness  and  had 
conduct  of  most  of  the  people.  The  greater  j)aitof 
the  women,  includin^i;  all  the  c/emowelles,  are  very 
lazv."^^^Ieules  proposes  as  a  remedy  that  the  kii.i,^ 
should  estaldish  a  general  workshop  in  the  colonv, 
and  pay  the  workmen  himself  during  the  first  live 
or  six  years.^  "  The  persons  here,"  he  says,  •'  who 
have  wished  to  make  a  fii>:ure  are  nearly  all  so 
overwhelmed  with  debt  that   they  may  be  cou- 


1  N.  Y.  Colonial  Dorunicnts,  IX.  279. 

-   F.iUts  ft  Oidonimncvs,  II.  11',). 

^  On  the  Genoral  Hospital  of  Qufltec,  see  Jiioliereau,  355.  In  l'')',)2, 
the  niitiister  writes  to  Frontenac  and  Chanipi};ny  that  they  shoultl  con- 
sider well  whether  this  house  of  ref  U{ie  will  not  "  au^nnenter  la  liiineantise 
parmi  'es  liabitans,"  by  {^iviii}^  tlieni  a  sure  sup])ort  in  poverty. 

4  As  late  as  1701,  six  thousand  livres  were  granted.  Callieies  au 
Ml)iisfie,  4  Nov.,  1701. 

8  iMiiKinville  et  Clidinpiffni/  (iti  Miiiistre,  6  Nov.,  1087. 

•»  Meiiles  au  Ministre,  12  Nov.,  10«2. 


1670-1700.1 


rOVFRTY. 


381 


sI(l(MT(l  as  ill  the  last  lUHXissIty."  '  TTe  adds  tlmt 
ninny  of  the  |)C'()j)l('  oo  liall'-naki'd  (jvcn  in  winter. 
"The  iiKMvliants  of  this  country,"  savs  the  intend- 
jiiit  Dnchesnean,  ''  are  all  phnioed  in  poverty, 
except  five  or  six  at  the  most;  it  is  the  same  with 
the  artisans,  except  a  small  numher,  because  the 
vanity  of  the  women  and  the  dehauchery  of  tiie  men 
consume  all  their  gains.  As  for  such  of  the  labor- 
ing chiss  as  ap()ly  themselves  steadily  to  cnlti- 
Viiling  the  soil,  they  not  only  live  very  well,  but 
are  incomi)arably  better  off  than  the  better  sort  of 
peasants  in  France."^ 

All  the  writers  lament  the  extravagjnit  hal)its  of 
the  people;  and  even  La  Tlontiin  joins  hands  with 
the  priests  in  wishing  that  the  supply  of  ribbons, 
liices,  brocades,  jewelry,  and  the  like,  might  be  cut 
off  by  act  of  law.  Mother  Juchereau  tells  us  that, 
when  the  English  invasion  was  impending,  the  belles 
of  Canada  were  scared  for  a  while  into  modesty  in 
order  to  gain  the  favor  of  heaven ;  but,  as  may  be 
iiHiigined,  the  effect  was  short,  and  Father  La  Tour 
declares  that  in  his  time  all  the  fashions  except 
rou(je  came  over  regularly  in  the  annual  ships. 

The  manners  of  the  mission  |)oriod,  on  the  other 
hand,  were  extremely  simple.  The  old  governor, 
Lauzon,  lived  on  pease  and  bacon  like  a  laborer,  and 
kept  no  man-servant.  He  was  regarded,  it  is  true, 
as  a  miser,  and  held  m  slight  account.'^  Magdeleine 
Boucher,  sister  of  the  governor  of  Three  Eivera, 


^  Monies,  ^femobr  toKchant  le  Canada  ft  I'Acadie,  1684. 
2  Ditrlirsneaii  aii  Mim'slre,  10  Nov.,  1079, 
'  M^inoire  d'Aubctt  de  la  Chetinaije,  1G76. 


382 


MORALS  AND  MANNERS. 


[1C45-C3. 


asi 


r 


1 


brought  her  husband  two  hunch-ed  francs  in  monoy 
four  sheets,  two  table-cloths,  six  napkhis  of  linou 
and  hemp,  a  mattress,  a  blanket,  two  dishes,  six 
spoons  and  six  tin  plates,  a  pot  and  a  kettle,  a  table 
and  two  benches,  a  kneading-trough,  a  chest  with 
lock  and  key,  a  cow,  and  a  pair  of  hogs.^  Jhir  the 
Bouchers  were  a  family  of  distinction,  and  the 
bride's  dowry  answered  to  her  station.  Bv  another 
marriage  contract,  at  about  the  same  time,  the 
parents  of  the  bride,  being  of  humble  degree,  hind 
themselves  to  present  the  bridegroom  with  a  barrel 
of  bacon,  deliverable  on  the  arrival  of  the  ships 
fi'om  France.^ 

Some  curious  traits  of  this  early  day  appear 
in  the  license  of  Jean  Boisdon  as  innkeei)er.  lie 
is  required  to  establish  himself  on  the  great  sqiinre 
of  Quebec,  close  to  the  chiu'ch,  so  that  the  parish- 
ioners may  conveniently  warm  and  refresh  them- 
selves between  the  services ;  but  he  is  forbichk^n 
to  entertain  auyl)od3^  durmg  high  mass,  sermon, 
catechism,  or  vespers.^  Matters  soon  changed; 
Jean  Boisdon  lost  his  monopoly,  and  inns  sprung 
up  un  all  hands.  They  did  not  want  for  jKitrons. 
and  we  iind  some  of  their  proprietors  mentioned 
as  amouLj:  the  few  thrivin"*  men  in  Canada.  TmIoh 
tried  to  regulate  them,  and,  among  other  rnk'S. 
ordained  that  no  innkeeper  shouhl  furnish  food  or 
drink  to   auv  liired  hd)orer  whatever,  or  to  any 

1  Contrni  de  ituirviaqr,  citod  by  ForlaiHt.  Notes,  73. 

2  Cnnlrat  (It  wao/r/^*,  cited  by  Benjamin  JSulte  in  Rente  Caiuidnnne, 
IX.  111. 

«  Acte  offideUe,  1648,  cited  by  Ferlaiul.  Cows  d'Hisloire  dii  Camda,  I. 
a65. 


[1045-03. 


1072-1701.] 


STATE   OF   QUEBEC. 


383 


ics  in  Tnoncy, 
kins  of  linen 
,vo  (lishos,  six 
kettle,  a  lable 
,  a  chest  ^vith 
)(Ts.^     But  tlie 
jtion,  and  the 
1.    Bv  another 
line    time,  the 
ie  degree,  l)iiKl 
n  with  a  Ixwrel 
I  o£   the  ships 

rly  day  appear 
nnkeeper.     Uc 
he  great  square 
that  the  parisli- 
1  refresh  t hem- 
he  Is  forhiddeu 
I  mass,  sermon, 
soon    ehan;ie(l ; 
md  inns  sprang 
mt  it)r  ])atrons. 
otors  mentioned 
Canada.     Talen 
)ng   other  ruh's. 
furnish  food  or 
over,  or  to  any 

73. 
te  ill  /Jerue  Camnlxnne, 

d'IIi>iloire  da  Caun(hi,l 


person  residing  in  the  place  where  his  inn  was 
situated.  An  innkeeper  of  Montreal  was  fined  for 
allowing  the  syndic  of  the  town  to  dine  under  his 
roof.^ 

One  gets  glimpses  of  the  pristine  state  of  Queljec 
through  the   early  police    regulations.     Each    in- 
habitant was  required  to  make  a  <>:utter  alomr  the 
middle  of  the  street  before  his  house,  and  also  to 
remove  refuse  and  throw  it  into  the  river.     All 
dogs,  without  exception,  were  ordered  home    at 
nine  o'clock.     On  Tuesdays  and  Fridays  there  was 
a  market  in  the  public  square,  whither  the  neigh- 
boring habitants,  male  and  female,  brought  their 
produce    for   sale,   as   they   still    continue   to  do. 
Smoking  in  the   street  was  forbidden,  as  a  jore- 
eaution  against  fire ;  householders  were  required 
to    provide    thein.selves  witli    ladders,   and    when 
the    fire    alarm   was    rung   all    able-bodied    per- 
sons were  obliged  to  run  to  the  scene  of  danger 
with  buckets  or  kettles  full  of  water.^     This  did 
not  prevent  the  Lower  Town  from  burning  to  the 
ground  in  1G82.     It  was  soon  rebuilt,  but  a  repeti- 
tion of  the  catastrophe  seemed  very  likely.    "This 
place,"  says  Denonville,  '•  is  in  a  fearful  state  as 
reuards  lire  :  for  the  houses  are  crowded  toi2:ether  out 
of  all  reason,  and  so  surrounded  with  piles  of  cord- 
wood  that  it  is  pitiful  to  see."'"^     Add  to  this  the 
stores  of  hay  for  the  cows  kept  by  many  of  the 
Inhabitants  for  the  benefit  of  their  swarming  prog- 

^  Faillon,  Colonic  Fninraisr,  TIT.  405. 
■i  R6j}nmuf  dc  Polire,  IC.TU.     /hid.,  1076. 
3  Denonrille  ait  Miiiistre,  20  Aoiit,  1086. 


384 


MORALS  AND  MANNERS. 


[1672-1701. 


ft'. 


i 

t 

If? 


eiiy.  The  houses  were  it  tliis  time  low,  compact 
buildings,  witli  gables  of  masonry,  as  required  by 
law ;  but  many  bad  wooden  fronts,  and  all  liad 
roofs  covered  with  cedar  shingles.  The  anxious 
governor  begs  that,  as  the  town  has  not  a  soii  of 
revenue,  liis  Majesty  will  be  pleased  to  make  it  llic 
gift  of  two  hundred  crowns'  worth  of  leather  lire- 
buckets.'  Six  or  seven  years  after,  certain  citizens 
were  authorized  by  the  council  to  import  from 
France,  at  their  own  cost,  ''  a  pump  after  the 
Dutch  fashion,  for  throw^lng  water  on  houses  in 
case  of  hre."^  How  a  lire  v>as  managed  at  Quebec 
appears  from  a  letter  of  the  engineer,  Vasseur, 
describing:  the  burninii;  of  Laval's  seminary  in  1701. 
Vasseur  was  then  at  Quebec,  directing  the  new 
fortifications.  On  a  Mondav  hi  November,  all  the 
jDupils  of  the  seminary  and  most  of  the  priests 
went,  according  to  their  weekly  custom,  to  rec- 
reate themselves  at  a  house  and  garden  at  '^t. 
Michel,  a  short  distance  from  town.  The  few 
priests  who  reiuained  went  after  dinner  to  say 
vespers  at  the  church.  Only  one,  Father  Petit, 
was  left  in  the  seminary,  and  he  presently  repaiied 
to  the  great  hall  to  I'ekindle  the;  lire  in  the  stove 
and  warm  the  i)lace  against  the  return  of  his 
brethren.  J  lis  success  surjKissed  his  wishes.  A 
firebrand  snapped  out  in  his  absence  and  set  the 
pine  floor  in  a  blaze.  Father  Boucher,  cine  of 
Point  Levi,  chanced  to  come  in,  and  was  half 
choked  by  the  smoke.    lie  cried //Ve.'  the  servants 

'   DeunnviUt'  nn  }flnistrf,  20  Aout,  }{)Hn. 
2  Riujlimtnt  dv  lO'.tl,  fxtnict  in  Ft'rlund. 


1701. 


BURNING   OF  THE   SEMINARY. 


385 


ran  for  water;  bat  the  flames  soon  mastered  them; 
they  screamed  the  jdai-m,  and  the  bells  began  to 
y'wv^.  A^asseiir  was  dining  with  the  intendant  at 
his  pidace  by  the  St.  Charles,  when  he  heard  a 
friuhtened  voice  crjing  out,  ''  Monsieur,  you  are 
wanted  ;  you  are  wanted."  He  sprang  from  table, 
saw  the  smoke  rolling  in  volumes  from  the  top  of 
the  rock,  ran  np  the  steep  ascent,  reached  the 
seminary,  and  found  an  excited  crowd  making  a 
prodigious  outcry.  He  shouted  for  carpenters. 
Four  men  came  to  him,  and  he  set  them  at  work 
with  such  tools  as  they  had  to  tear  away  planks 
and  beams,  and  prevent  the  lire  from  spreading  to 
the  adjacent  parts  of  the  building;  but,  Avhen  he 
went  to  find  othei's  to  help  them,  they  ran  off. 
He  set  new  men  in  their  place,  and  these  too  ran 
off  the  moment  his  back  was  turned.  A  cry  was 
raised  that  the  building  was  to  be  blown  up,  on 
which  the  crowd  scattered  for  their  lives.  Vasseur 
now  gave  up  the  seminary  for  lost,  and  thought 
only  of  cutting  off  the  lire  from  the  rear  of  the 
church,  which  was  not  far  distant.  In  this  he  suc- 
ceeded, by  tearing  down  an  intervening  wing  or 
[TaHery.  The  walls  of  the  burning  building  were 
of  massive  stone,  and  by  seven  o'clock  the  lire  had 
<|)ent  itself.  We  hear  nothing  of  the  Dutch 
]Mnup,  nor  does  it  appear  that  the  soldiers  of  the 
li'arrison  made  any  effort  to  keep  order.  Under 
'•over  of  the  confusion,  property  was  .>^tolen  from 
the  seminary  to  the  amount  of  about  two  thousand 
livres,  which  is  i'eniarka])le,  considering  the  relig- 
ious character  of  the  building,  and   the  supposed 

26 


3SG 


MORALS  AND   MANNERS. 


[1700-03. 


«-••■ 


JiSC 
!«< 

k: 

v.. 

!:. 


piety  of  the  people.  "  There  were  more  than 
three  hundred  ]K^rsons  at  the  fire,"  says  Vasseur; 
"but  thh'ty  picked  men  would  have  been  worth 
more  than  the  whole  of  them."' 

Auj]^ust,  September,  and  Oetober  were  the  busy 
montlis  at  Quebec.  Then  the  ships  from  France 
dischar<^ed  their  lading,  the  shops  and  warehouses 
of  the  Lower  Town  were  filled  with  goods,  and  the 
hah'ifanfs  came  to  town  to  make  their  purchases. 
When  the  fi-osts  began,  the  vessels  sailed  away,  the 
hai'bor  was  deserted,  the  streets  were  silent  ay-iun, 
and  like  ants  or  squirrels  the  people  set  at  work 
to  lay  in  their  winter  stores.  Fathers  of  families 
packed  their  cellars  with  beets,  carrots,  potatoes, 
and  cabbages;  and,  at  the  end  of  autumn,  with 
meat,  fowls,  game,  fish,  and  eels,  all  frozen  lo 
stony  hardness.  Most  of  the  shops  closed,  and 
the  loni;'  season  of  leisure  and  amusement  bcLcan. 
^sew  Year's  day  ])rou":ht  visits  and  mutual  ii-ifts. 
Thence  till  Lent  dinner  parties  were  frequent, 
sometimes  familiar  and  sometimes  ceremonious. 
The  governor's  little  court  at  the  chateau  was  a 
standing  example  to  all  the  aspiring  spirits  of 
Quebec,  and  forms  and  orders  of  precedence  were 
in  some  liouses  punctiliously  observed.  There 
were  dinners  to  i\iv  military  and  civie;  dignitaries 
and  tluMr  wives,  and  others,  quite  distinct,  to 
prominent  citizens.  The  wives  and  daughters  of 
the  burghers  of  Quebec  are  said  to  have  been 
superior  in  manners  to  women  of  the  correspoiKhng 


'    ]'(isxiiir  an  j}nnlsirc,  24  Xov.,  1701.     Like  Denonville  before  him,  lie 
urges  tlie  iieyJ  ot  fire-buckets. 


1700-63.] 


THE   COUNTRY  PARISHES. 


387 


lonville  before  liim,  lie 


class  in  France.  "  They  have  wit,"  says  La  Pothc- 
rie,  "  delicacy,  good  voices,  and  a  great  fondness 
for  dancing.  They  are  discreet,  and  not  nuicli 
iriven  to  flirting :  but  when  thev  undertake  to 
catch  a  lover  it  is  not  easy  for  him  to  escape  the 
bands  of  Hymen."  ^ 

So  much  for  the  town.  In  the  country  parishes, 
there  was  the  same  autumnal  stowing  away  of 
frozen  vegetables,  meat,  iish,  and  eels,  and  un- 
fortunately the  same  surfeit  of  leisure  through 
live  months  of  the  year.  During  the  seventeenth 
century,  many  of  the  peo[)le  were  so  poor  that 
women  were  forced  to  keep  at  home  from  sheer 
want  of  winter  clothing.  Nothing,  however,  could 
prevent  their  running  from  house  to  house  to  ex- 
change gossip  with  the  neighbors,  who  all  knew 
each  other,  and,  having  nothing  else  to  do,  dis- 
cussed each  other's  affairs  with  an  industrv  which 
often  bred  bitter  quarrels.  At  a  later  period,  a 
more  general  introduction  of  family  weaving  and 
spinning  served  at  once  to  furnish  clothing  and  to 
promote  domestic  peace. 

The  most  important  persons  in  a  parish  were  the 
cure,  the  seignior,  and  the  militia  captain.  The 
seignior  had  his  bench  of  honor  in  the  church. 
Imniediatelv  behind  it  was  the  bench  of  the  militia 
captain,  whose  duty  it  was  to  drill  the  able-bodied 
iiu'u  of  the  neighborhood,  direct  road-making  and 
other  public  works,  and  serve  as  deputy  to  the 
intendant,  whose  ordinances  he  was  required  to 
enforce.  Next  in  honor  came  the  local  judge,  ii 
any  there  was,  and  the  church-wardens. 

I  La  Potherie,  I.  279. 


388 


MORALS  AND  MANNERS. 


[1G85-17G3. 


iw- 


«f 


aw 


Hi. 

I- 


The  existence  of  slavery  in  Canada  dates  fioui 
the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century.  In  1G88,  the 
attorney-o^eneral  made  a  visit  to  Paris,  and  ui-i-ed 
upon  the  king  the  expediency  of  importing  ncgiocs 
from  the  West  Indies  as  a  remedy  for  the  scjircity 
nnd  dearness  of  hd3or.  The  king  consented,  I)iit 
advised  caution,  on  the  ground  that  the  rigoi-  of 
the  chniate  would  make  the  venture  a  critical  one' 
A  number  of  slaves  were  brought  into  the  colony; 
but  the  system  never  flourished,  the  cHmate  and 
other  circumstances  being  hostile  to  it.  Many  of 
the  colonists,  especially  at  Detroit  and  other  outly- 
ing posts,  owned  slaves  of  a  remote  Indian  tribe, 
the  Pawnees.  The  fact  is  remarkable,  since  it 
would  be  dillicult  to  find  another  of  the  wild  tribi-s 
of  the  continent  capable  of  subjection  to  domestic 
servitude.  The  Pawnee  slaves  were  captives  taken 
in  war  and  sold  at  low  prices  to  the  Canadians. 
Their  market  value  was  much  impaired  by  their 
propensity  to  run  off. 

It  is  curious  to  observe  the  views  of  the  Cann- 
dianstaken  at  dii'ferent  times  by  dilferent  writers. 
La  Hontan  says,  "  They  are  vigorous,  enterprising", 
and  indefatigable,  and  need  nothing  but  education. 
They  are  presumptuous  and  full  of  self-conceit, 
rei»:ard  themselves  as  above  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth,  and,  unfortunately,  have  not  the  veneration 
for  their  parents  that  they  ought  to  have.  The 
women  are   generaUy  pretty ;    few   of    them   are 


1  fiistntdi'on  oh  Sr,  dr.  Froutnuic,  1080.  On  r.-viiadinn  slavory,  see  u 
lonfT  paper,  CEsdaviKjfi  en  Canada,  publislied  by  tlie  Historical  Society 
ot'  Montreal. 


1736.] 


CANADIAN  LIFE. 


389 


brunettes ;  many  of  them  are  discreet,  and  a  good 
number  are  lazy.  Tliey  are  fond  to  the  last  degree 
of  dress  a: id  show,  and  eacli  tries  tr  outdo  the  rest 
in  the  art  of  cacching  a  husband."^ 

Fifty  years  later,  the  intendant  Ilocqiiart  writes, 
''The  Canadians  are  fond  of  distinctions  and  at- 
teu(i(ms,  plume  themselves  on  their  courage,  and 
arc  extremely  sensitive  to  shghts  or  the  smallest 
corrections.  Thev  are  self-interested,  vindictive, 
prone  to  drunkenness,  use  a  great  deal  of  brandy, 
and  pass  for  not  being  at  all  truthful.  This  por- 
trait is  true  of  many  of  them,  particularly  the 
country  people  :  those  of  the  towns  are  less  vicious. 
They  are  all  attached  to  religion,  and  criminals  are 
rare.  They  are  volatile,  and  think  too  well  of 
themselves,  which  prevents  their  succeeding  as 
tliey  might  in  farming  and  trade.  They  have  not 
the  rude  and  rustic  air  of  our  French  peasants. 
If  they  are  put  on  their  honor  and  governed  with 
justice,  they  are  tractable  enough ;  but  their  natural 
disposition  is  indocile."^ 

The  navigator  l^ougainville,  in  the  last  years  of 
the  French  rule,  describes  the  Canadian  habitant 
as  essentially  superior  to  the  F^rench  peasant,  and 
adds,  ''  He  is  loud,  boastful,  mendacious,  obliging, 
civil,  and  honest;  indefatigable  in  hunting,  travel- 
ling, and  bush-ranging,  but  lazy  in  tilling  the 
soil"  3 

The  Swedish  botanist,  Kalm,  an  excellent  ob- 
server, was  in  Canjida  a  few  years  before  Bougain- 


»  La  Hontan.  U.  81  (e<L  1709).  '-'  Memolrc  dc  1730. 

3  Me'moiie  ilc  1757,  printed  in  Margry,  Relations  Jn^dites. 


390 


MORALS  AND   MANNERS. 


[1749. 


m 


ville,  and  sketches  from  life  the  followhig  traits  of 
Canadian  manners.  The  Lmguage  is  that  of  the 
old  English  translation.  "  The  men  here  {at  Mon- 
treal) are  extremely  civil,  and  take  their  hats  off 
to  every  person  indifferently  Avhom  they  meet  in 
the  streets.  The  Avomen  in  general  are  handsome; 
thev  are  well  hred  and  virtuous,  with  an  innocent 
and  ])ecomin!jr  freedom.  They  dress  out  ver\  lin  > 
on  Sundavs,  imd  thouu^h  on  the  other  days  thev  do 
net  take  mnch  pains  with  the  other  parts  of  their 
dress,  yet  they  are  very  fond  of  adorning  tlieir 
heads,  the  hair  of  which  is  always  ciu'led  and 
powdered  and  ornamented  with  glittering  bodkins 
and  aigrettes.  They  are  not  averse  to  taking  ])art 
in  all  the  business  of  housekeeping,  and  1  have 
witli  pleasure  seen  the  daughters  of  the  better 
sort  of  people,  and  of  the  governor  {of  Montreal) 
himself,  not  too  finely  dressed,  and  going  into 
kitchens  and  cellars  to  look  that  every  thing  be 
done  as  it  ought.  What  I  have  mentioned  above 
of  tlieir  dressing  their  heads  too  assiduously  is  the 
case  with  all  the  ladies  throughout  (Janada.  Their 
hair  is  always  curled  even  when  they  are  at  home 
in  a  dirty  jacket,  and  short  coarse  petticoat  that 
i\oi.\^  not  reacli  to  the  middle  of  their  legs.  On  those 
days  when  they  ])ay  or  receive  visits  they  dress  so 
gayly  tliat  one  is  almost  induced  to  think  their 
parents  possess  the  greatest  honors  in  the  state. 
They  are  no  less  attentive  to  have  i\\(}  newest 
fashions,  and  they  laugh  at  each  other  wlien  they 
are  not  di'essed  to  each  other's  fancy.  One  of  the 
lirst    questions    they    propose    to    a    stranger    is. 


11749. 


1749.] 


CANADIAN  LIFE. 


391 


)wmg  traitis  of 

is  that  of  the 

here  {at  Mon- 

their  huts  off 

they  meet  in 

ire  handsome; 

,h  an  innocent 

\  out  very  lino 

\Y  (lays  they  do 

parts  of  their 

i(h)rning  their 

ys    curled   ami 

tiering  hod  kins 

to  talking  part 

g,  and  1  luive 

of    the  1)etter 

'  {of  iMonireal) 

lid   going   into 

3very  thing  be 

entioned  above 

siduously  is  the 

Uiina<hi.     Tlieii' 

cy  are  at  home 

e  petticoat  thiit 

'  leu's.    On  those 

ts  thev  (h'ess  so 

I  to  think  their 

rs  in  the  st^ite. 

iive  the  newest 

rlier  when  tliev 

^y.     One  of  the 

a    strangei-    i^. 


whether  he  is  married ;  the  next,  how  he  likes  the 
ladies  of  the  country,  and  whether  he  thinks  them 
handsomer  than  those  of  his  own  country ;  and  the 
third,  whether  he  will  take  one  home  with  him. 
The  behavior  of  the  ladies  seemed  to  me  somewhat 
too  free  at  Quebec,  and  of  a  more  becoming  mod- 
esty at  Montreal.  Those  of  Quebec  are  not  very 
industrious.  The  young  ladies,  especially  those  of 
a  higher  rank,  (x,('i  up  at  seven  and  dress  till  nine, 
drinking  their  coffee  at  the  same  time.  When 
they  are  dressed,  they  place  themselves  near  a 
window  that  opens  into  the  street,  take  np  some 
needlework  and  sew  a  stitch  now  and  then,  but 
turn  their  eyes  into  the  street  most  of  the  time. 
When  a  young  fellow  comes  in,  whether  they  are 
acquainted  with  hiin  or  not,  they  immediately  lay 
aside  their  work,  sit  down  by  liim,  and  begin  to 
chat,  laugh,  joke,  and  invent  double-entendres,  and 
this  is  reckoned  being  very  witty.  In  this  manner 
they  frequently  pass  the  whole  day,  leaving  their 
mothers  to  do  the  business  of  the  house.  Thev 
are  likewise  cheerful  and  content,  and  nobody  can 
say  that  they  want  either  wit  or  charms.  Their 
fault  is  that  they  think  too  well  of  themselves. 
However,  the  daughters  of  people  of  all  ranks 
Avithout  exception  go  to  market  and  carry  home 
what  they  have  bought.  The  girls  at  Montreal 
are  very  much  displeased  that  those  at  Quebec  get 
husbands  sooner  than  they.  The  reason  of  this  is 
that  many  young  gentlemen  who  come  over  from 
France  with  the  ships  are  captivated  by  the 
ladies  at  Quebec  and  marry  them;  but,  as  these 


392 


MOKALS   AND   MANNERS. 


[IT-JO 


©: 


gentlemen  seldom  ^-o  up  <o  Montreal,  llie  girls  there 
ai'e  not  often  so  lijip[)y  as  those  ot"  the  toruu'i- 
plaee.''  ^ 

Long  before  Kalm's  visit,  the  Jesuit  Charlevoix, 
a  traveller  and  a  man  of  th(^  world,  wrote  thus  of 
Quebec  in  a  letter  to  the  Duehesse  de  Lesdii'-uiercs  • 
"  There  is  a  select  littk'  society  here  which  wnnis 
nothing  to  make  it  jjgreeahle.  In  the  .sY//oy/.v  of  the 
wives  of  the  governor  and  of  the  intendaut.  one 
finds  circles  as  briirunit  as  in  other  countries." 
These  circles  were  formed  partly  of  the  princip.d 
inhabitants,  but  chiellv  of  militarv  ollicers  and 
government  otlicials,  with  their  families.  Charle- 
voix continues,  '•  Everybody  does  his  part  to  make 
the  time  pass  pleasantly,  with  games  and  parties  of 
pleasure;  drives  and  canoe  excursions  in  sumnu  r, 
sleifirhin*^  and  skatin<»-  in  winter.  There  is  a  uicat 
deal  of  huntimi:  and  shootin<i:,  for  many  Cana'iiim 
gentlemen  ar(^  almost  destitute  of  any  other  nenns 
of  living  at  their  ease.  The  news  of  tlu'  day 
amounts  to  very  little  indeed,  as  the  count rv  fur- 
nishes  scarcely  jiny,  while  that  from  Euro])e  cciiics 
all  at  once.  Science  and  the  line  arts  have  their 
turn,  and  convt^i'satioii  dot^s  not  fail.  The  Cimii- 
dians  breathe  from  their  birth  an  air  of  lil)erty, 
which  makes  them  yei*y  ])leasant  in  the  intercourse 
of  life,  and  oui'  language  is  nowhere  more  j)urely 
spoken.  One  linds  here  no  ri(di  persons  whatever, 
and  this  is  a  great  pity;  for  the  Canadians  like  to 
get  the  credit  of  their  money,  and  scarcely  aiiy- 

1  Kalni,  Travels  into  Norfli  Atiu'rica,  translated  into  English  by  Julm 
Ueinold  Forster  (London,  1771),  60,  2b2,  etc. 


1720.] 


CANADIAN  LIFE, 


393 


t'   the  loniu'i' 


body  amuses  liimsolf  witli  lioarcliug  it.  They  say  it 
[^  very  different  with  our  neiolihors  tlie  Eu^-hsh, 
and  one  who  knew  tlie  two  colonies  only  hy  the 
way  of  hvinf,^  acting,  and  sj)eaking  of  the  colonists 
Avould  not  hesitate  to  judge  ours  the  more  l!ouiish- 
ing.  In  New  England  and  the  other  British  colo- 
nies, there  reigns  an  opulence  hy  wliicli  the  people 
seem  not  to  know  how  to  profit;  while  in  New 
France  poverty  is  hidden  under  an  air  of  ease 
which  appears  entii'ely  natural.  Tlie  English  colo- 
nist keeps  as  much  and  spends  as  little  as  possihle: 
the  French  colonist  enjoys  what  he  has  got.  and 
often  makes  a  display  of  what  he  has  not  got. 
The  one  labors  for  his  heirs :  the  other  leaves  them 
to  get  on  as  they  can,  like  himself.  I  could  push 
the  comparison  farther;  but  I  must  close  here  :  the 
king's  ship  is  about  to  sail,  and  the  merchant 
vessels  are  getting  ready  to  follow.  In  three  days 
perhaps,  not  one  will  be  left  in  the  harbor." ' 

And  now  we,  too,  will  leave  Canada.  AVinter 
draws  near,  and  the  first  patch  of  snow  lies  gleam- 
ing on  the  distant  mountain  of  Cape  Tounnente. 
The  sun  has  set  in  chill  autumnal  beautv,  and  the 
sharp  spires  of  fir-trees  on  the  heights  of  Sillery 
stand  stiff  and  black  against  the  pure  cold  am1)er  of 
the  fading  west.  The  ship  sails  in  the  morning; 
and.  before  the  old  towers  of  Rochelle  rise  in  sight, 
there  will  be  tune  to  smoke  many  a  pipe,  and  pon- 
der what  we  have  seen  on  the  banks  of  the  St. 
Lawrence. 


into  English  by  Julin 


1  Charlevoix,  JonrmJ  il'storitjue,  80  (ed.  1.74-4] . 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

;i  003-1 763. 
CANADIAN  ABSOLUTISM. 

FORMATIOV     OF    CANADIAN     ChARACTKU.  —  Thk     RiVAL     CoI.ONIKS.  — 

England  and  Fhanck.  —  Nkw  Knuland.  —  Ciiahactkuistics  ok 
Kace.  —  MiLiTAUY  Qualities,  —  Tiik  Ciiuucii.  —  T»k  English 
C0NQUK8T. 


or 

w 


fflf 


Not  institutions  alone,  but  geographical  position; 
climate,  and  many  other  conditions  unite  to  form 
the  educational  infhiences  that,  actinij:  throimii 
successive  generations,  shape  the  character  of  na- 
tions and  conununitios. 

It  is  easy  to  see  the  nature  of  the  education, 
past  and  present,  ^vhich  wrought  on  the  CanadiMiis 
and  made  them  what  they  were.  'An  ignorant 
population,  sprung  from  a  brave  and  active  race, 
but  trained  to  subjection  and  dependence  through 
centuries  of  feudal  and  monarchical  despotism,  was 
planted  in  the  wilderness  by  the  hand  of  authority, 
and  told  to  grow  and  flourish.  Artificial  stinuilants 
were  applied,  but  freedom  was  withheld.  Per- 
petual intervention  of  government,  regulations, 
restrictions,  encouragements  sometimes  more  mis- 
chievous than  restrictions,  a  constant  uncertainty 
what  the   authorities  would  do  next,  the  fate  of 


1C03-1703.1 


ENGLISH  COLONIZATION. 


395 


livAL  Colonies.  — 

MAKACTKUlsrU'S   i)K 

H.  —  TiiK  English 


pliical  position, 
unite  to  foiMu 
cting  through 
laracter  of  iia- 


tlie   education, 
I  the  Canadians 

/An  ignorant 
nd  active  race, 
idence  tlu'oiigli 

despotism,  \va,^ 
id  of  authority, 
licial  stimulants 
ivithheld.  Pcr- 
nt,  regulations, 
inies  more  mis- 
mt  uncertainty 
xt,  the  fate  of 


each  man  resting  less  with  himself  than  with 
another,  volition  enfeehled,  self-i'eliance  paralyzed, 
—  the  condition,  in  short,  of  a  child  held  always 
under  the  rule  of  a  father,  in  the  main  well- 
meaning  and  kind,  sometimes  generous,  some- 
times neglectful,  often  ca[)ricious,  and  rarely 
very  wise,  —  such  were  the  inlluences  under  which 
Canada  grew  up.  If  she  luid  prospered,  it  would 
have  been  sheer  miracle.  A  man,  to  be  a  man, 
must  feel  that  he  holds  his  fate,  in  some  good  meas- 
ure, in  his  own  hands. 

But  this  was  not  all.  Against  absolute  authority 
there  was  a  counter  influence,  rudely  and  wildly 
antagonistic.  Canada  was  at  the  very  portal  of 
the  great  interior  wilderness.  The  St.  Lawrence 
imd  the  Lakes  were  the  highway  to  that  domain 
of  savage  freedom ;  and  thither  the  disfranchised, 
half-starved  seignior,  and  the  discouraged  hahitant 
who  could  iind  no  market  for  his  produce,  naturally 
enough  betook  themselves.  Their  lesson  of  sav- 
agery was  well  learned,  and  for  many  a  year  a 
houndless  license  and  a  stiff-handed  authority  bat- 
tled for  the  control  of  Canada.  Nor,  to  the  last, 
were  church  and  state  fairly  masters  of  the  field. 
The  French  rule  was  drawing  towards  its  close 
when  the  intendant  complained  that  though  twenty- 
eight  companies  of  regular  troops  were  quartered 
in  the  colony,  there  were  not  soldiers  enough  to 
keep  the  people  in  order.^  One  cannot  but  re- 
member that  in  a  neighboring]^  colony,  far  more 
populous,  perfect  order  prevailed,  with  no  other 

'  Memoire  de  1730  (printed  by  the  Historical  Society  of  Quebec). 


39G 


CANADIAN  ABSOLUTISM. 


[1663-170;{. 


■  j(^vt»»  ■ 


m 

m 
m 

w 

I- 


guardians  than  a  few  constables  chosen  by  the 
people    themselves. 

Whence  arose  this  difference,  and  other  differ- 
ences equally  striking,  between  the  rival  colonies? 
It  is  easy  to  ascribe  them  to  a  difference  of  politi- 
cal and  lellgious  institutions ;  but  the  explanation 
does  not  cover  the  ground.  The  institutions  of 
New  England  were  utterly  inapplicable  to  the 
po[)ulation  of  New  France,  and  the  attempt  to 
aj)pl\'  them  Avould  have  wrought  nothing  but  mis- 
chief. There  are  no  political  panaceas,  except  in 
the  imagination  of  political  quacks.  To  each  degree 
and  each  variety  of  public  development  there  are 
corresponding  institutions,  best  answering  the  pub- 
lic needs;  and  what  is  meat  to  one  is  poison  to 
another.  Freedom  is  for  those  who  are  fit  for  it. 
The  rest  will  lose  it,  or  turn  it  to  corru|)tion. 
Church  and  state  were  right  in  exercising  authority 
over  a  people  which  had  not  learned  the  iirst  ru<h- 
ments  of  self-u'overnment.  Their  fault  was  not 
that  they  exercised  authoritv,  but  that  they  exer- 
cise<l  too  much  of  it,  and,  instead  of  weaning  the 
child  to  go  alone,  kept  him  in  perpetual  k-ading- 
strings.  making  him,  if  ])ossil)le,  more  and  more 
dependent,  and  less  and  less  fit  for  freedoui. 

In  the  building  up  of  colonies,  England  suc- 
ceeded and  France  failed.  The  cause  lies  chielly 
in  the  vast  advantage  drawn  by  P^ngland  from  the 
liistorical  training  of  her  people  in  habits  of  re- 
flection, forecast,  industry,  and  self-reliance, — n 
training  Vv'hich  enabled  them  to  adopt  and  maintain 
an  invigorating  system  of  self-rule,  totally  inap- 
plicable to  their  rivals. 


[1663-1703. 


1003-1763.] 


CIIARACTKIIISTICS   OF  llACE. 


397 


losen  by    the 

other  differ- 
ival  colonies  ? 
3nce  of  politi- 
e  explanation 
nstitutions  of 
icable    to  tlu; 
e    attempt   to 
thing  bnt  niiis- 
eas,  except  in 
L'o  each  degree 
lent  there  are 
liring  the  pnb- 
e  is  poison  to 
are  ht  for  it. 
[,0   corriii)ti()n. 
sing  authority 
the  lirst  rudi- 
fanlt   was  not 
hat  they  exer- 
f  weaning  the 
►etual  U'ading- 
ore  and    more 
'  freedom, 
England  suc- 
ise  lies  chielly 
land  from  the 
hal)its  of  rt"- 
f-relianee,  —  :i 
t  and  maintain 
,   totally   inai)- 


The  New  England  colonists  were  far  less  fugi- 
tives from  oppression  than  voluntary  exiles  seek- 
ing the  realization  of  an  idea.  They  were  neither 
peasants  nor  soldiers,  but  a  substantial  Puritan 
yeomanry,  led  by  Puritan  gentlemen  and  divines  in 
thorough  sympathy  with  them.  They  were  neither 
sent  out  by  the  king,  governed  by  him,  nor  helped 
l»y  him.  They  grew  up  in  utter  neglect,  and  con- 
tinued neglect  was  the  only  boon  they  asked.  Till 
their  increasing  strength  roused  the  jejdousy  of 
the  Crown,  they  were  virtually  independent;  a 
republic,  but  by  no  means  a  democracy.  They 
chose  their  governor  and  all  their  rulers  from 
among  themselves,  made  their  own  government 
and  paid  for  it,  sup])orted  their  own  clergy,  de- 
fended them.selves,  and  educated  themselves.  Un- 
(]er  the  hard  and  repellent  surface  of  New  England 
society  lay  the  true  foundations  of  a  stable  free- 
(h)m,  —  conscience,  rellection,  faith,  patience,  and 
public  spirit.  The  cement  of  common  interests, 
hopes,  and  duties  compacted  the  whole  people  like 
a  rock  of  conglomerate  ;  while  the  people  of  New 
Fiance  remained  in  a  state  of  political  segrega- 
tion, like  a  basket  of  pebl)les  held  together  by  the 
(Miclosiire  that  surrounds  them. 

it  may  be  that  the  difference  of  historical  ante- 
cedents would  alone  ex])hun  the  dilference  of  char- 
iicter  l)etween  the  rival  colonies;  but  there  are 
deeper  causes,  the  infbience  of  which  went  far  to 
determine  the  antecedents  themselves.  The  Ger- 
iiianic  race,  and  especially  the  Angh)-8axon  branch 
of  it,  is  pecidiarly  masculine,  and,  therefore,  pe- 


398 


CANADIAN  ABSOLUTISM. 


11663-1708. 


W 


m 

an- 

I 

j! 


culiarly  fitted  for  self-goveriiincnt.  It  submits  its 
action  habitually  to  the  guidance  of  reason,  and 
has  the  judicial  faculty  of  seeing  both  sides  of  a 
question.  The  French  Celt  is  cast  in  a  different 
mould.  He  sees  the  end  distinctly,  and  reasons 
about  it  with  an  admirable  clearness ;  but  his  own 
impidses  and  passions  continually  turn  him  awnx 
from  it.  Opposition  excites  hini ;  he  is  im])ati{Mit 
of  delay,  is  impelled  always  to  extremes,  and  docs 
not  realily  sacrifice  a  present  inclination  to  an  ulti- 
mate good.  He  delights  in  abstractions  and  gen- 
eralizations, cuts  loose  from  unpleasing  facts,  and 
roams  throutJ!:h  an  ocean  of  desires  and  theories. 

While  New  England  prospered  and  Canada  did 
not  j^rosper,  the  French  system  had  at  least  one 
great  advantage.  It  favored  military  efficiency. 
The  Canadian  population  sprang  in  great  part  from 
soldiers,  and  was  to  the  last  systenuitically  rein- 
forced by  disbanded  soldiers.  Its  chief  occupation 
was  a  continual  training  for  forest  war;  it  had 
little  or  nothin^i:  to  lose,  and  little  to  do  but  (iiilit 
and  range  the  woods.  This  was  not  all.  The 
Canadian  government  was  essentially  military.  At 
its  head  was  a  soldier  nobleman,  often  an  old  and 
al)le  commander,  and  those  beneath  him  caught  his 
spirit  and  emidated  his  example.  In  spite  of  its 
political  nothingness,  in  spite  of  poverty  and  liaid- 
ship,  and  in  spite  even  of  trade,  the  up})er  stratum 
of  Canadian  society  was  animated  by  the  pride 
and  fire  of  that  gallant  noblesse  which  held  war  as 
its  only  worthy  calling,  and  prized  honor  more 
than  liie.     As  for  the  habitant,  the  forest,  lake, 


10G3-1763.] 


MILITARY   QUALITIES. 


'j  i"  1^ 

dyy 


and  river  were  his  true  school ;  and  here,  at  least, 
he  was  an  apt  scholar.  A  skiU'ul  woodsman,  a  bold 
and  adroit  canoe-man,  a  willing  fighter  in  time  of 
need,  oi'ten  serving  without  pay,  and  receiving  from 
government  only  his  provisions  and  his  canoe,  he 
was  more  than  ready  at  any  time  for  any  hardy 
enterprise ;  and  in  the  forest  warfare  of  skirmish 
and  surprise  there  were  few  to  match  him.  An 
absolute  government  used  him  at  will,  and  ex- 
perienced leaders  guided  his  rugged  valor  to  the 
best  account. 

The  New  England  man  was  precisely  the  same 
material  with  that  of  which  Cromwell  formed  his 
invincible  "  Ironsides ; "  but  he  had  very  little 
forest  experience.  His  geographical  position  cut 
him  off  completely  from  the  great  wilderness  of 
the  interior.  The  sea  was  his  field  of  action. 
Without  the  aid  of  government,  and  in  spite  of  its 
restrictions,  he  built  up  a  prosperous  commerce, 
aiitl  enriched  himself  by  distant  fisheries,  neglected 
bv  the  rivals  before  whose  doors  they  lav.  He 
knew^  every  ocean  from  Greenland  to  Cape  Horn, 
and  the  whales  of  the  north  and  of  the  south  had 
110  more  dtingerous  foe.  But  he  was  too  busy  to 
(ight  without  good  cause,  and  when  he  turned  his 
hand  to  soldiering  it  was  only  to  meet  some  press- 
ing need  ol"  the  hour.  Tlie  New  England  troops  in 
the  early  wars  were  bands  of  raw  fishermen  and 
farmers,  led  by  civilians  decorated  with  military 
titles,  and  subject  to  the  slow  and  uncertain  action 
of  legislative  bodies.  The  olficers  had  not  learned 
to  command,  nor  the  men  to  obey.     The  remark- 


400 


CANADIAN  ABSOLUTISM. 


[16G3-17G3. 


Us- 


k. 
f- 


t 


able  exploit  of  the  capture  of  Louisburg,  the 
strongest  fortress  in  America,  was  the  result  of 
mere  audacity  and  hardihood,  backed  by  the 
rarest   good    luck. 

One  great  fact  stands  out  conspicuous  in  Cana- 
dian liistorv,  —  the  Church  of  Rome.  More  even 
than  the  royal  power  she  shaped  the  character  and 
the  destinies  of  the  colony.  She  was  its  nurse  and 
almost  its  mother;  and,  wayward  and  headstrong 
as  it  was,  it  never  broke  the  ties  of  faith  that  held 
it  to  her.  It  was  these  ties  which,  in  the  absence 
of  political  franchises,  formed  under  the  old  regime 
the  only  vital  coherence  in  the  population.  Tlie 
royal  government  was  transient ;  the  churcli  was 
permanent.  The  English  conquest  shattered  the 
v,h()k^  apparatus  of  civil  administration  at  a  blow, 
but  it  left  her  untouehefl.  Governors,  intendants, 
councils,  and  commandants,  all  were  gone;  the 
principal  seigniors  fled  the  colony;  and  a  ])eo])le 
who  had  never  learned  to  control  themselves  or 
hel[)  iiiemselves  were  suddenly  left  to  their  own 
''evices.  Confusion,  if  not  anarchy,  would  h.ive 
followed  })ut  for  the  |)arish  priests,  who  in  a  char- 
acter of  double  paternity,  half  spiritual  and  lialf 
temporal,  became  more  than  ever  the  guardians  ol 
order  throuurhout  Canada. 

This  English  conquest  Avas  the  grand  crisis  of 
Canadian  history.  It  was  the  beginning  of  a  now 
life.  With  England  came  Protestantism,  and  ihc 
Canadian  church  grew  purer  and  better  in  the 
])resence  of  an  adverse  faith.  Mjiterial  growth,  an 
increased  mental  activity,  an  education  real  though 


1G63-1763.] 


THE  ENGLISH  CONQUEST. 


401 


fenced  and  guarded,  a  warm  and  genuine  patriot- 
ism, all  date  from  the  peace  of  17G3.  England 
imposed  by  the  sword  on  reluctant  Canada  the 
boon  of  rational  and  ordered  liberty.  Through 
centuries  of  striving  she  had  advanced  from  stage 
to  stage  of  progress,  deliberate  and  calm,  never 
breaking  with  her  past,  but  making  each  fresh 
gain  the  base  of  a  new  success,  enlarging  popular 
liberties  while  bating  nothing  of  that  height  and 
force  of  individual  development  which  is  the  brain 
and  heart  of  civilization ;  and  now,  through  a  hard- 
earned  victory,  she  taught  the  conquered  colony  to 
share  the  blessings  she  had  won.  A  happier  calam- 
ity never  befell  a  people  than  the  conquest  of 
Canada  by  the  British  arms. 


m- 


P 


<*»■ 


a?- 


lii. 


APPENDIX. 


[The  following  extracts  are  printed  letter  for  letter  from  copies  of  the  original 

docunients.] 

A. 


THE  HERMITAGE   OF  CAEN. 


MeMOIRE  pour  FAIRK  CONNOISTRB  L'esPRIT  ET  LA  CONDUITE  DE  LA 
C().Ml'AONlE  KSTABLIE  EN  LA  VILLE  DE  CaEV,  AI'PELEK  l'HeuMI- 
TAGE. 

(Exlrait.)  '     Bibliotheque  Nationale. 

C'kst  en  ce  fameiix  Hermitage  que  le  (lit  feu  Sieur  de  Ber- 
niiTcs  a  esleve  plusleurs  jeuiies  gens  au.xquels  il  enseifiioit  une 
espece  d'oraison  sublime  et  tratiscendaTite  que  Ton  appelle  I'orai- 
son  >uremeiit  passive,  parcecpie  I'esprit  u'y  agit  point,  niais 
re(;oit  seulement  la  divine  operation  ;  c'est  cette  espece  d'oraison 
qui  est  la  source  de  tant  de  visions  et  de  revelations,  dont  I'ller- 
mitage  est  si  fecond  ;  et  apres  qu'il  leur  avoit  sul)tilizi3  et  presque 
fait  cvaporer  I'esprit  par  cette  oraisou  I'atiiiee,  il  les  retidoit 
capables  de  reconnoistre  les  .lansenistes  les  plus  cacliez  ;  en  sorte 
que  fpielques  uns  de  ces  disciples  out  <lit  qu'ils  le  connoissoient 
ail  flairer,  comme  les  chiens  font  leur  gibier,  pour  ensuite  leur 
fiiire  la  cliasse,  neantmoins  le  dit  Sieur  de  Bernieres  disoit  qu'il 
n'livoit  jia-i  I'odorat  si  subtil,  mais  que  la  marque  a  laquelle  il 
coiHioissoit  les  Jansenistes  estoit  (juand  on  improuvoit  sa  con- 
(ltiit<i  ou  que  Ton  estoit  0[)pose  aux  Jesuites  ....  Au  coni- 
nirncement  le?  personnes  de  cette  compagnie  ne  se  mesloient  que 
(Ic  lassistance  des  pauvres,  mais  de[)uis  que  le  feu  Sieur  de  Ber- 
nieres qui  estoit  un  simple  laique,  (pii  n'avoit  point  d'estude,  s'en 
estant  rendu  le  maistre,  il  j)ersuada  a  ceux  (pii  en  sont  quelle 
n'cstoit  pas  seulement  (\stablie  pour  prendre  S()in  des  jjauvres, 
mais  de  toutes  les  autres   bonnes  ceuvres,  publiques  ou  parti- 

*  This  rr^inoiie  forms  IIG  payes  in  the  copy  in  my  possession. 


404 


APPENDIX. 


I 


«* 


it  J. 
,^9 


a.; 

I 


culieres,  qui  regardent  la  Piete  et  la  Religion  et  que  DIeu  les 
iivoit  suscitez,  priiicipiiloniont  pour  suppluor  uux  dot'auts  et  iie<,fli- 
gences  des  Prehits,  des  P:ist(!urs,  des  JNIagistrats,  des  Jugcs  tt. 
autrcs  Superieurs  Kcck'siustiipie.s  et  Poiiticpies  (jui  I'aute  df 
s'appliquer  asstv.  aux  devoirs  de  leurs  oliargcs,  ohnietteiit  dans  Ks 
occuisions  beaucoup  de  l)ieu  (pi'ils  pourroit-iit  j)n>cui'or,  et  ncgliii- 
eut  de  register  Ji  beaucoup  de  niaux,  dabus  et  d'erreurs  qii'ils 
pourroient  enipr-chfr ;  et  que  pour  reuiedier  a  ces  maiupicnu'iits, 
il  estoit  expedient  (pie  ])ieu  suscitat  plusieurs  gens  de  bicii  de 
toutes  sortes  de  conditions  qui  s'unisseut  ensend)le  pour  travailler 
u  ravaucement  du  bien  qui  se  peut  faire  eu  eliaque  })rofession,  et 
pour  extirper  les  erreurs,  les  abus  et  les  vices  qui  s'y  glissent 
souveut,  par  la  negligence  ou  coiuiivence  mesme  de  ceux  qui  soiit 
le  plus  obligez  par  leur  niiuistere  d'y  douner  ordre. 

Et  c'est  dans  cette  pensee  que  ces  messieurs  croyent  avoir 
droit  a  se  ineslcr  de  toutes  choses,  de  s'ingcrer  de  toutes  les 
actions  uu  peu  cclatantes  qui  regardeut  la  Religion,  de  s'ingerer 
en  censeurs  publics,  pour  corriger  et  controller  tout  ce  qui  leur 
dej)laist,  d'entrer  et  de  penetrer  dans  les  secrets  des  niaisons  et 
des  families  particulieres,  connne  aussi  dans  la  conduite  <les  coni- 
munautez  Heligieuses  pour  y  gouverner  toutes  choses  h  leur  grc ; 
et  bien  que  ces  messieurs  soient  fort  ignorans,  bien  (ju'ils  n'uvent 
aucune  experience  des  affaires  et  qu'ils  passent  dans  le  jugeniciit 
de  tons  ceux  qui  les  connoissent  pour  personnes  qui  n'ont  qu'uii 
Zele  impetueux  et  violent,  sans  lumieres  et  sans  discretion,  neaut- 
moins  ils  presument  avoir  assez  de  caj)acite  pour  reformer  la  vie, 
les  mceurs,  les  sentimens  et  la  doctrine  de  tous  les  autres.  Kt 
ce  qu'il  y  a  de  plus  fascheux  et  de  plus  dangereux  en  cela,  c'est 
que  si  on  ne  defere  aveuglement  a  tous  leurs  sentimens,  si  dii 
improuve  leur  conduite  et  si  Ton  oppose  la  moindre  resistance  a 
leurs  entreprises.  quoyqu'injustes  et  violentes,  ils  unisiuuit  touirs 
leurs  forces  pour  les  faire  reussir  et  pour  cet  effet  ils  reclaniriit 
les  seoours  de  tous  ceux  qui  leur  sont  unis,  a  Paris,  a  Kouiii  vi 
ailleurs,  pour  decrier,  pour  diffamer  et  pour  perdre  ceux  qui  Irtir 
resistent  et  qui  veulent  s'opposer  au  cours  de  leurs  violences  et 
de  leurs  injustice,  de  sorte  qu'on  peut  assurer  arec  verite  (jiie 
cette  comj)agnie  a  degenere  en  une  cabale  et  en  une  faction  daii- 
gereuse  et  pernicieuse,  tant  ii  TEglise  qu'a  la  Patrie,  estant  certain 
que  depuis  peu  d'annces  ils  ont  excite  beaucoup  de  troubles  et  do 


APPENDIX. 


405 


fllvisions  dans  toute  la  ville  de  Caen,  ot  notamment  dans  lo  clerf^e 
et  mosine  en  plusieur.s  autres  Tumix;  de  la  Basse-Normandie  ainsi 
(jii'il  paroistra  par  Ics  articles  suivants  de  ce  memoire. 

II  est  arrive  quelques  fois  qn  ayant  eu  de  faux  avis  que  des 
maris  maltroitoient  leurs  femmes  on  que  des  fenimes  n'estoient 
l>as  fideles  a  leurs  maris  <>u  que  des  filles  ne  se  gouvernoient  pas 
bien,  ils  se  sont  ingi-re/  sur  le  rapport  (jui  en  estoi*  fait  eu  leur 
ass(;rnl)lee  de  ciiercher  les  nioyeiis  de  reniedier  a  ces  niaux,  et  ils 
en  out  choisi  de  si  impertinents  et  de  si  iiidiscrets  que  eela  a  este 
capable  de  causer  bien  du  desordre  et  de  la  division  duns  les 
families  et  dans  toute  la  ville;  car  souvent  voulant  einpescher 
une  legere  faute,  on  en  fait  naistre  de  grands  scandales,  lorsque 
Ton  agit  par  emportement  plustost  que  par  prudence. 

Ce  n'est  pas  seulement  dans  les  families  particulieres  qu'ils 
s'introduisent  pour  en  fureter  les  secrets,  pour  en  connoitre  les 
dc'fauts  et  pour  en  usurper  la  direction  et  le  gouvernement,  mais 
encore  dans  les  niaisons  Keligieuses,  dont  les  unes  se  sont  sou- 
niises  a  leur  domination,  conune  les  Ursulines  de  Caen,  les 
moynes  de  I'Abbaye  d'Ardenne  de  I'ordre  de  Premontre,  proche 
de  cette  ville  oc  depuis  pen  les  Hlles  de  Saiute-Marie ;  et  les 
autres  leur  ayant  tesrnoigne  quelque  resistance,  ils  out  employe 
toute  leur  Industrie  pour  en  venir  a  bout;  et  ou  I'artilice  a  man- 
que, ils  y  out  adjoute  les  violences  et  les  menaces 

Mais  il  ne  faut  point  chercher  de  marques  plus  visibles  de  la 
perseverance,  pour  mieux  dire  du  progres  de  ces  faux  ermites 
dans  leurs  emjwrtemens  que  ce  qu'ont  fait  cet  hiver  passe  cinq 
jeunes  liommes  nourris  en  I'llermitage  et  eleves  sous  la  direc- 
ti(m  et  discipline  du  feu  Sieur  de  Bernieres.  On  leur  avoit  si 
bien  imprime  dans  I'esprit  que  tout  estoit  rempli  de  Jansenistes 
dans  la  ville  de  Caen,  et  que  les  curez  en  estoient  les  fauieurs  et 
protecteurs,  qu'un  d'entreeux  s'imagina  (pie  Dieu  I'inspiroit  forte- 
ment  advertir  le  peuple  de  Caen  que  les  curez  estoient  des  fau- 
teurs  d'Herctiques  et  par  consequent  des  excomuniez ;  et  ayant 
persuade  a  ses  compagnons  d'annoncer  pu])liquement  a  toute  la 
ville  ce  crime  pretendu  des  Curez  d'une  maniere  qui  touchast  le 
peuple  et  qui  fut  cai)al)le  de  I'exciter  contre  ces  Pasteurs,  ils 
resolui-er,t  de  faire  cette  publication  le  mercredi  quatrieme  du 
inois  de  Febvrier  dernier,  et  jugerent  que  i)our  sc  dispo.-^er  ii 
executor  dignement  ce  que  Dieu  leur  avoit  inspire,  il  falloit  faire 


406 


APPENDIX. 


a; 
I 


frV 


ensemble  une  commuuion  extnionliiiaiie,  iiiuucdiuteineiit  avuiit 
que  (le  rciitreiireiidre.  lis  jis>istcii'iit(lonc  pour  cetettbt  et  duns 
111  paroisse  de  S:iiiit-Ouon  i\  hi  niesse  d'uu  prestre  (ju'oii  dit  estre 
de  leur  cubale,  et  (•oiumuMierent  tous  cinq  de  sa  main  ;  el  .'ijnis 
leur  conunuiiioii,  le  plus  zele  Uiit  bus  son  pourpoint  et  Ic  l;i,,»,:i 
avee  son  (rliapoau  dans  I'Kiflise  ;  et  uecom[)a^ne  tle8(|uatre  autrcs 
qui  le  suivoient  sans  cliapcanx,  sans  cok-ts  tit  le  j)Ourp()iiit 
deboutonnt',  iion-obstant  la  rigueur  extreme  du  fioid  ;  ils  mur- 
clieient  en  eet  e(jnii)aiie  par  toute  la  ville,  annotn.'ant  a  lianto 
voix  (jue  It'S  cuic'Z  de  Caen  a  I't'xeeptiou  de  tleux  <jnils  noni- 
moiont  et(>ient  fauteurs  de  Jansrnistcs  et  excomnuuiic/,  pari'i; 
qu'ils  avoient  signe  uu  aete  devant  rollieial  de  Caen,  oil  ils 
attestent  (pi'ils  ne  connoissent  point  de  Jansenistes  dtins  la  dite 
ville  et  repetoient  cet  advertissement  de  dix  pas  en  dix  pas,  cc 
qui  emeut  toute  la  ville  et  attira  ii  leur  suite  une  grande  multi- 
tude de  populace  qui  se  persuadant  (jue  ees  gens  estoient  en.(tyL'S 
de  Dieu  pour  leur  donner  eet  advertissement,  temoignoit'iit  desju 
de  I'emotiou  contre  les  curez.  Mais  les  magistrats  qui  esti>i(Mit 
alors  an  siege  en  ayant  este  advertis,  ils  envoyereut  leurs  liuis.sitrs 
j)()ur  les  arrester  et  les  emmener,  et  ayant  este  interrogez  par  \v, 
juge  sur  le  sujet  d'une  aetion  si  extraordinaire,  ils  rcspondirt  nt 
lianliment  (ju'ils  I'avoient  entrei)rise  pour  le  service  de  Dieu  et 
qu'ils  estoient  prests  de  souffiir  la  mort  pour  soustenir  la  veritc 
de  ee  ([u'ils  annoiu/oient,  qu'ils  avoient  connoissance  ct^rtaiiie 
quMl  y  avoit  grand  nombre  de  Jansenistes  en  la  ville  de  Cat'ii,  ot 
(pie  les  furez  s'en  estoient  declai'ez  les  fauteurs,  par  la  dc'-clara- 
tioii  qu'ils  avoient  donnce  qu'ils  n'en  connoissoient  point ;  eiisuittc 
de  quoy  (]uatre  d'liutre  eux  furent  renvoyez  en  prison  vl  le 
cin<]uieme  fut  mis  entre  k-s  mains  de  ses  parents  sur  une  attesta- 
tion (pie  donnerent  les  mcdecins  qu'il  estoit  by{>ocondria{]ue  et 
jjeu  de  jours  apres  le  lieutenant  criininel  ayant  instruit  le  proccz, 
le?*  quatre  ])risoniners  furent  condamnez  a  cent  livres  d'ameiide ; 
il  leur  fut  deti'endu  et  a  tons  autres  de  s'assenfbler  ni  d'excitcr 
aucun  scandale.  il  fut  ordonnt*  (ju'ils  seroient  mis  entre  les  niaiuh 
d<;  leur  parents  pour  s'en  charger  et  eu  faire  bonne  et  scare 
irarde,  avee  defll'ense  de  les  laisser  entrei-  dans  la  ville  et  aiix 
fauxbourgs,  sur  peines  an  cas  api)artenantes.  .  .  . 

Car  de  quelles  entreprises  ne  sont  pas  capables  des  pcrsoniies 
d'esprit  faible  et  d'humeur  atrabilaire  que  d'ailknu's  on   a  dcs- 


APPENDIX. 


407 


SL'chees  par  dosj  jednes,  des  veillrs  et  d'autros  iiustc'i-itez  continu- 
(illes  et  par  des  meilitations  de  trols  ou  qiiatre  heures  par  jour, 
lorsqiKi  Toil  ne  les  eiitretieut  prescpie  d'autre  cliose,  si  iioii  (jue 
Unir  Heli«;ion  et  I'Kglise  sont  eii  un  tres  grand  danger  de  se 
perdre,  par  la  faction  et  la  conspiration  des  Jansenistcs  lesqueLs 
on  leur  reprcscnte  dans  les  livres,  dans  les  sermons  et  dans  les 
(Conferences,  cornrae  des  gens  qui  vonlent  renverser  les  fonde- 
monts  de  la  Religion  et  de  la  Piete  Clirestienne,  qui  veulent 
(U'truire  le  niystere  de  I'lncarnation,  (pii  ne  eroyent  point  ii  la 
'Transubstantation  ni  Tin  vocation  des  Saints,  ni  les  Indulgences, 
(|ui  veulent  abolir  le  sacrilicc  de  la  niesse  et  le  saorement  de  la 
Penitence,  ({ui  conil)attent  la  devotion  et  la  culte  de  la  Sainte- 
Vierge,  <jui  nient  le  franc  arbitre  et  (pii  substituent  en  sa  |»laeele 
dcstin  et  la  fatalite  des  Turcs,  et  enlln  qui  machinent  la  mine  de 
I'autliorite  des  Souverains  Pontifes.  Qu'y  a-t-il  de  plus  aise 
que  d'aninier  les  esprits  inil)eciles  d'eux  mesmes  et  prevenus  de 
ces  fausses  imaginations  contro  des  Evesques,  des  Docteurs.  des 
Curez,  et  contre  d'autres  personnes  tres  vertueuses  et  tres  catho- 
li(iues,  lorsqu'on  leur  fait  croire  que  toutes  ces  personnes  con- 
spireut  h  establir  une  lieresie  abominable  ! 


B. 


LAYAL   AND   ARGENSON. 

Lettue  de  i-'Evesque  de  Petree  a  M.  d'Aroenson,  "pRiiRB 

Du  Gouverneur. 

(Extrait.)     Papiers  cV Argenson. 

Jai  re(;eu  dans  mon  entree  dans  le  pays  de  IMonsieur  votre 
frere  toutes  les  marques  d'une  bienveillance  extraordinaire ;  iay 
fait  mon  possible  pour  la  recongnoistre  et  luy  ay  rendu  tons  les 
respects  que  je  dois  a  une  personne  de  sa  vertu  et  de  son  merite 
joint  a  la  qualite  qu'il  porte ;  comme  son  plus  veritable  amy  et 
fidelle  serviteur  iay  cru  estre  oblige  de  luy  donner  un  advis  im- 
portant pour  le  bien  de  I'Eglise  et  qui  luy  devoit  estre  utile  s'il 
loust  pris  dans  la  mesme  dispositior  que  ie  suis  asseure  que vous 
I'auries  receu ;  cestoit  seul  h  soul  k  cocur  ouvert  avec  marques 


408 


APIMCNDIX. 


.& 

IK  ' 

r 
%- 


assez  <5vi(l('iit('8  que  ce  que  ie  luy  disois  estoit  vray  veu  (ju'ii 
estoit  i'omW'  sur  (l<'s  sentiinciis  quo  i'uvois  vou  inoy  incsuie  jm- 
roistro  en  iliv«'rs(*s  jiss«'inl)l(''('s  puldicjucs ;  ('(^ixMiiliiiit  il  lie  li>t, 
(juo  troj)  con^iioistrc  qu'il  uv.  trouvoit.  jiiuiuniiciiuMit  Ixm  (jnc 
ie  luy  (loiinaisst's  cet  advcrtisseinoiit  et  mo.  voulliit  t'aire  oiii- 
l)ras.s(3r  le  party  tic  cvnix  (jui  avaient  tout  siilijcct  de  se  plaiiidn; 
de  son  proccdc  envers  cux,  niais  que  je  lie  pret«'nd<)is  auiiuniie- 
mont  justifier  n'en  ayaiit  au(|uniie  plainte  de  leur  part  pour  luy 
faire  et  d'ailleurs  estans  asse;*  desinteresses ;  vous  pouvez  bicii 
iii<fer  (juels  sont  eeux  dont  ie  veux  parlor  sans  vous  les  iioiniiit  r 
puixpie  vous  niesnKi  (pii  avez  uiie  alllHition  sincere  et  bleu  re^lec 
pour  ces  dii^nes  ouvriers  evaniifelicjues  ni'avez  avoue  que  vous 
aviez  douUeur  de  le  voir  partir  <lau8  les  sentiments  oil  il  estoit  a 
leiir  esirard  sans  beaucoup  de  fondeinent  du  moins  siinisaiiiineiit 
recontriieu  pour  lors ;  ce  (jue  io  luy  dis  avoir  seen  de  vous  poia- 
ne  rien  oniettre  de  ce  que  je  me  persuadois  qui  estoit  capable  dt; 
lui  faire  avouer  une  verite  qui  nestoit  <pie  tro[)  ap[)arente,  cm  ((iii 
devoit  nn  pen  le  calmer  sou  esprit  seml>la  rai<;[rir  et  se  fasclia  de 
ce  que  vous  m'aviez  faict  cette  ouverture,  ie  ne  scais  dej)uis  ce 
qu'il  a  pense  de  moy,  mais  il  semble  que  je  luy  sois  suspect  et 
qu'il  aye  crii  que  i'embrasse  la  cause  d»;  ces  bons  serviteurs  de 
Dieu  a  son  preiudice,  mais  ie  puis  bien  asseurer  qu'ils  n'oiit  pom- 
luy  que  des  sentimeiis  de  respect  et  (jue  la  plus  forte  jiassiou  (|ii<' 
iaye  est  de  le  voir  dans  une  parfaite  union  et  intelligence  avec 
eux. 

Quebec  ce  20  Octobre  1659. 

Lkttre  de  M.  d'Augenson,  1660. 

(Exlrait.)     Paphrs  (VArrjeiison. 

Monsieur  de  Petree  a  une  telle  adherence  a  ses  sentiments  et 
un  zele  (jui  le  portc  souvent  liors  du  droict  de  sa  charge  qu'il  ne 
faict  aucune  dillienlte  d'empieter  sur  le  pouvoir  des  aultivs  ( f 
avec  taut  de  chaleur  qu'il  n'ecoute  personne.  II  enleva  ces  j(»ur> 
derniers  une  tille  servente  d'un  habitant  d'icy,  et  la  mit  de  son 
autoiite  dans  les  Ilursulines  sur  Ie  seul  pretexte  qu'il  voul(»il  l:i 
faire  instruire,  et  par  la  il  priva  cet  habitant  du  siervice  qu'il  i)ro- 
tendoit  de  sa  servente  qui  luy  avoit  faict  beaucoup  de  depense  a 
amener  de  France.    Cet  habitant  est  Mf  Denis  lequel  ne  cognois- 


I 


APl'KNDIX. 


409 


^.u^i  pus  qui  I'iivoit  soulistna  inc  pn'sonta  requosto,  pour  I'avoir. 
,]o.  j^anle  [.vtV]  la  re(|ue8t(^  siuis  hi  lepondrc,  trois  jours  pour  «!in- 
IK'schor  rcflat  do  cette  atfliiro.  Lo  It.  1*.  Lalciuent  avcc  lecpu'l 
i'en  coninumicpic  oL  l('(pu'l  hlasiua  fort  lo  procedc  do  Mf  do  Pe- 
nvo  s'einployado  tout  sou  pouvoir  pour  la  tairt;  nuidro  sans  bruit 
(*t  n'y  gaigua  riou,  si  biou  quo  jo  t\\H  ohligo  d*'  ropoudro  la  ro- 
([uesto  ot  de  p«'ruiottro  k  (;ot  habitant  (h^  roproudro  sa  servoute 
oil  il  la  trouvoroit,  ot  si  jo  n'ousso-  insiuuo  soubs  main  d'acconi- 
niodor  cctto  affairo  (it  (pio  rhabitaiit  a  (pii  on  rct'usa  do  la  nnidro 
Tout  poursuivi  on  justioi^  j'cMisso  ost»'r  oblige  dt;  la  luy  rondrt;  ot  do 
pousstM*  tout  avoc  bcaucoup  de  scandal  et  cola  (a  cause  de)  la 
volonto  do  Mr  do  IV'troo  (jui  diet  (/u'lm  cvesque  peult  ce  quHl 
veult,  et  ne  menace  que  dexcomtnunication. 


et  intoUijJtence  avec 


Lettrb  de  M.  d'Aroenson. 

(Exirails.)     Papiers  d^ Argenson. 

KKnKC  le  7  Juillet,  1660. 
M!  de  Petroe  -i  faist  naistre  cette  contestation  et  ie  puis  dire 
auec  verito  que  son  zele  en  phisicurs  rencontres  approclic  fort 
d'unc  grand(!  atache  a  son  sentiment  et  d'empietement  sur  la 
charge  des  aultres  comme  vous  le  verrez  par  un  billet  icy  joint. 
.  .  .  De  toutes  cos  contestations  que  i'ay  eu  auec  Mf  de  Petree 
i'ay  tousjours  faist  le  R.  P.  Lalomand  mediateur ;  c'est  une  per- 
Sonne  d'un  si  grand  merite  et  d'un  sens  si  acheve  que  ie  pense 
qu'on  ne  peult  rien  y  adjouter ;  il  seroit  bien  a  souhaiter  que 
touts  coux  de  sa  maison  suivissent  ses  sentiments ;  ils  no  so  mes- 
leroient  pas  de  censuror  plusieurs  choses  comme  ils  font  et  lais- 
seroient  le  gouvernement  des  affaires  a  ceux  que  Dieu  a  ordonn^ 
pour  cela. 


c. 

PERONNE    DUMESNIL. 
Le  Sieuh  Gauo.vis  du  Pont  a  Moxseigneuk  ok  Colbert.    1664. 

(Extrait.)     Archives  de  la  Marine. 
QuKLQUE  7  on  8  jours  apres  I'etablissement  du  Conseil  Sou- 
verain,  en  consequence  des  lettres  patentes  de  Sa  majesty,  Ie 


!!i;i 


410 


APPENDIX. 


*3? 

ac 

*■■- 


Procureiir  General  dii  dit  Consei!  jugeaiit  qu'il  etait  de  sa 
charge  de  reprendro  les  (papiers)  de  cette  plainte  pour  nc  pas 
laisser  uii  tel  atttuitat  iin{)imi,  fit  sa  reipiL'te  verbale  au  dit  Coii- 
seil  tenduiite  a  ce  qu'il  iui  fut  donno  connuissiou  pour  iiito'-inir 
centre  le  dit  SitMU'  Du  Mesnil ;  et  que  si  le  dit  Sieur  Du  Mcsnil, 
avait  avis  de  la  dite  commission  qu'il  ne  maiiquerait  pas  de 
detourner  ces  dits  papiers,  demandant  qu'il  Iui  fut  pei-niis  dt^ 
saisi  et  de  sequestrer  iei  et  apposer  le  sceau  au  cotfre  oii 
arnioire  en  laquelle  se  trouveraient  les  dits  papiers,  et  pour 
ce  taire  qu'il  plut  au  dit  Constil  nommer  tel  Commissaire  qu'il 
jiigerait  h  \n'o\M)&.  Le  dit  Conseil  enterinant  la  re(]uete  du  dit 
l*rocureur  Cieneral,  nonima  le  Sieur  de  Villeray,  pour,  cii  la 
presence  ilu  dit  Procureur  General  et  assistance  de  son  Grellier 
vaouer  h  la  dite  information,  &c. 

ill  dautant  que  le  dit  Sieur  Du  Mesnil  etait  estime  homnio 
violent  et  qu'il  pourrait  faire  quchpie  boutade,  pour  donner  ni.iiu 
forte  a  la  justice,  Mr.  le  Gouveriieur  fut  [)rie  pur  les  dits  Cou- 
seillers  de  fiiro  escort<;r  le  dit  Sieur  Conmiissaire  par  quel(j[ue 
nomhre  <ie  soldats. 

Le  dit  Sieur  de  Villeray  assiste,  comme  dit  est  pour  I'execu- 
tion  de  sa  commission,  se  trans{)orta  au  logis  du  dit  Sieur  Du 
MesiilJ,  laissant  a  quartier  I'escorte  de  soldats  pour  s'en  servir  eu 
cas  de  hes«*in. 

Le  dit  Si(  ur  Du  Mesnil  ne  trompa  pas  I'opinion  que  Ton 
avait  j^uc  de  sa  violence,  fit  grand  bruit,  cria  aux  voleurs,  voulant 
emouvoir  .son  voisinage,  outrageant  d'injures  les  dits  SitMirs  de 
Villeray  ct  Procureur  (ieneral  au  grand  inep'ls  de  I'autorite  du 
Conseil,  refusunt  ineme  de  le  recoimaitre.  Ce  qui  n'empe.'lia 
pas  le  dit  Sieur  de  Villeray  d'executer  sa  commission  de  s;ti>ir 
les  papiers  du  dit  Sieur  Du  Mesnil,  (jui  on  doima  la  clef,  y  tit 
upposer  le  sceau  et  ieelui  seipiestrer  es  mains  d'un  voisin  du  dit 
Sieur  Du  Mesnil  et  de  son  coiisentement. 

Le  lendemain  le  dit  Sieur  de  Villeray  ra})porta  son  prooos 
verbal  ;ui  <lit  conseil,  atteste  du  dit  Procaireur  G<'Mieral,  et  siguo 
du  (Jrcdier  du  dit  (-onseil  et  '<ur  les  injures,  violences  et  irreve- 
rences y  contenues  tant  contre  le  dit  Sieur  Commissaire  que 
I'autorile  du  Conseil,  fit  decerner  un  decret  de  prise  de  corps 
centre  le  dit  vSieur  Du  Mesnil,  dont  j'empechai  rexeculion. 


APPENDIX. 


411 


Memoirb  de  Dumesnil  concernant  lks  affaiues  du  Canada. 
(Extrait.)     Archives  de  la  Marine. 

10  Ski'temuke,  1671. 

Les  dits  Sieiirs  do  iNIi'sy,  Gouveriicur,  de  Petroe,  Eveque,  et 
Diipoiit  Giiuduis,  an-ivt'S  an  dit  Quebec  le  IG"  jourde  Septeinbre 
1GG3,  fureiit  le  lendeimiiu  salui's  et  visites  par  le  dit  Du  Mesnil 
precedent  jnge,  lequel  par  devoir  et  civilite  leur  dit  par  forme 
(Favis  que  par  des  arrets  du  eoiiseil  du  Roi,  qu'il  leur  represeiita 
en  date  du  27  Mars  1G47  et  i;5  Mai  16'>9  tons  les  eouiuus  et 
reoeveurs  des  dits  denicrs  publics  etaient  cxclus  de  toutes 
charges  puliliques,  jus;iu'a  ce  qu'ils  eussent  rendu  et  assure  leurs 
coni[)tes,  et  le  nomine  Villcray  cliasse  <lu  eonseil  de  la  traite 
pour  y  avoir  entre  par  voies  et  moyeus  illicites  ;  et  ordoune  qu'il 
vieudrait  en  Fi-ance  i)our  le  purgcr  de  ses  crimes  ;  ce  qu'il  n'a 
j)as  fait,  et  pour  nonnner  les  autres  comniis,  receveurs,  auxquels 
il  aurait  commence  a  faire  le  proces  pendant  qu'il  etait  ju'>e. 

'sonobstant  lesquels  dires,  actes  et  arrrts  represeutes,  les  dits 
Sieurs  de  Mesy,  Eveque  de  P^li'ee,  et  Dupout  Gaudais,  n'ont 
delaisse  de  i)rendre  et  admettre  avec  eux  au  dit  Co-i^eil  Sou- 
verain  les  dits  comptables ;  lesquels  i)ar  ce  moyeu  se  pretendent 
a  convert  et  exempts  de  rendre  les  dits  comptes.  Le  dit  etablisse- 
nient  de  eonseil  fait  et  arrete  par  les  dits  Conunissaires  le  18 
du  niois  de  Septend)re,  deux  jours  apres  leur  arrivee ;  et  pour 
Procnu'eur  General  prennent  un  nomme  Jean  IJourdon,  boulanger 
et  cannonier  au  fort  et  aussi  comptable  de  8  a  DOO,OUU  livres, 
corame  il  sera  montre  et  qu'il  a  prete  son  nom. 

Le  20  du  mois  de  Septcmbre,  deux  joui's  apres  I'etablissemeut 
du  dit  eonseil,  les  dits  Villei-ay  soi-di.sant  conseiller  et  commis- 
saire  et  Bourdon,  Proeureur  General  accompagnes  de  deux  ser- 
gciits,  d'un  serrurier  et  i\v  dix  soldats  du  fort,  bieu  arnies  vout 
en  la  maisou  du  dit  Du  Mesnil,  Intendant  et  ContrOlcur  Geuertil, 
et  pen  anparuvaiit  leur  juge  soiiverain,  sur  les  7  a  8  lieures  du 
soir  pour  |)iller  sa  maison  ;  ce  qu'ils  lirent;  ayaiit  fait  rompre 
la  porte  de  son  cabinet,  ses  armoires  et  un  eotl'ret ;  pris  et  em- 
jiorte  ce  qu'ils  ont  Irouve  dedans  et  notammeiit  tons  ses  papiers 
dans  lesquels  etaieut  leurs  proces  i)res(pie  faits,  et  les  j)reuves  de 
Iturs  pecidats,  concussions  et  malversations,  sans  aucun  inventaire 
iii  forme  de  justice,  ctant  le  dit  Du  Mesnil,  lors  des  dites  vio- 


412 


APPENDIX. 


<^, 


<r 


m 

ik: 
m 


Hi. 


lences,  tenu  et  arrete  sur  un  sit'ge  et  rudement  traite  par  lef?  sul- 
dats  jusques  a  rempecher  d'a[)pelur  du  secours  et  des  temuins 
pour  voir  ce  qui  se  passait  eii  su  maisou  et  comme  11  ctait  lie  et 
ariete. 

Cette  action  violente  ainsi  faite  et  le  dit  Du  Mesnil  se  voyaiit 
delivro  du  massacre  de  sa  personue  dont  il  etait  menace,  et  d'etre 
assassine  comtne  son  fils  s'en  va  trouver  le  dit  Sieur  Diipont 
Gaudais  prenant  (pialitc  d'Intendant  pour  lui  en  faire  plaiiuo, 
qu'il  ne  voulut  entendre,  disant  que  c'etait  de  son  ordo.inaiice  et 
du  dit  Cons«!il  que  la  dite  action  et  prise  de  papiers  avait  etc 
faite;  a  quoi  le  dit  Du  Me.snil  repartit  qu'il  s'en  plaindrait  .111 
Hoi,  et  lui  en  dtMuanderait  justice,  ce  qui  obligea  le  dit  I)uj)()iii 
(laudais  de  dire  au  (lit  Du  Mesnil  qu'il  donnat  sa  recpjcte;  <;e 
(jui  fut  fait,  et  sur  hupifUe  fut  par  le  dit  Conseil  ordonne  le  22 
du  dit  niois  de  Se})tembre,  deux  jours  apres  cette  violence  inn- 
le  dit  Dupont  Gaudais  serait  coinmissaire  pour  verifier  les  faits 
d'icelle  recpiete  ;  ce  (pie  poursuivant  le  dit  Du  Mesnil,  il  eut 
ordre  verbal  du  dit  Sr.  Gaudais  de  mettre  au  Greft'e  ses  cuuses> 
et  moyens  de  recusation,  de  nuUite  de  prise  a  partie  et  de  de- 
mandes  ;  ce  que  le  dit  Du  Mesnil  fit  comme  appert  par  I'acte 
si*^iK'  du  Grellier  du  dit  Conseil  du  28  du  dit  mois  de  Septemhre 
sur  lescjuelles  ivcusations,  prises  a  partie  et  denmiides,  le  (lit 
Conseil  n'a  rien  voulu  ordonner,  comme  appert  par  autre  acte 
du  dit  GreHier  du  21  Octobre  ensnivant,  jour  ordomu;  pour 
rembanpiemcnt  et  (k'part  des  vaisseaux  du  dit  Quebec  pour 
retourner  en  France. 

Mais  au  lieu  do  statuer  et  ordonner  sur  les  faits,  moyens  et 
conclusions  du  dit  Du  Mesnil,  le  dit  Conseil  sans  plainte,  sans 
partie  et  sans  information  a  dress(^  emiirisonnemciit  du  dit 
Du  iNIesnil  et  caclu;  le  dt^'cret  sans  le  mettre  au  Gretle  dans 
rintcntion  de  le  faire  paraitre  et  executor  du  menie  temiis  cjue 
1(»  dit  Du  Mesnil  se  voudrait  cmbanpier  pour  revenir  eu 
France,  afin  (ju'il  n'eut  pas  le  temps  de  donner  avis  des  vio- 
lences (pron  lui  faisait :  de  (pioi  averti  il  s'(.'nibar(pia  qucl- 
(pies  jours  auparavant  les  autres  et  fut  re(;u  par  le  Capitaine 
Gardeur  dans  .son  navire,  nonobstant  les  defenses  (pii  lui  en 
avaient  etc*  faites  par  le  dit  nouvcau  Conseil  et  (pie  six  pieces  do 
canon  de  la  plate  forme  d'en  bas  fiissent  pointees  contre  isoa 
navire  pour  le  faire  obeir  a  leurs  ordonnances. 


APPENDIX. 


413 


Tons  COS  massacres,  assassins  et  pillages  n'ont  ete  faits  au  (lit 
j)u  Mesnil,  Intendaiit,  par  les  dits  comptahles,  ordonnateurs  ct 
preiieurs  de  bieii  ])ul)lic  et  Iciirs  parents  el  allies  que  pour  taclier 
a  fouvrir  et  s'exempter  de  compter,  payer  et  rendre  ce  qu'ils  out 
pillc,  savoir 


D. 


LAVAL    AND    MESY. 
Ordre  de  M?  de  Mesy  dk  faire  sommation  a  l'Eveque 

DE   PkTKEE. 

(Extrait.)     Registre  du  Conseil  Superieur. 

13  Fkvrier,  16G4. 

Le  Sieur  d'Angoville,  IMajor  de  la  Garnison  entietenue  par  le 
l^oi  dans  le  Fort  de  S'  Louis  a  Quebec  pays  de  la  Nouvelle 
France,  est  commande  par  nous  Sieur  de  Mesy,  Lieutenant 
(ieneral  et  Gouverneur  pour  Sa  Majeste  dans  toute  Tetendue  du 
dit  pays,  aller  dire  et  avertir  Monsieur  rEve(pie  de  Petree  etant 
presentement  dans  la  chunibre  qui  servait  ci-devant  aux  Assein- 
blees  du  Conseil  au  dit  pnys,  que  les  Sieurs  nommes  pour  Con- 
seillers  et  le  Sieur  Bourdon  pour  Frocureur  du  Roi  au  dit 
I'onseil  a  la  persuasion  du  dit  Sieur  de  Petree  qui  les  connaissait 
mtierement  ses  creatures  setant  voulu  rendre  les  niaitres  de- 
clarer et  |)ortes  en  diverses  nianieres  dans  le  dit  Conseil  contre 
It's  Interets  du  Koi  et  dii  [)ublio  jiour  appuyer  et  autoriser  les  in- 
tt'rets  il'autrui  en  particulier,  il  leur  a  ete  commande  par  notre 
ordre  pour  la  conservation  des  interets  du  Roi  en  ce  pays,  de 
K'ai)senter  du  dit  Conseil  jusqu'a  ce  que  a  notre  diligence  par  le 
relour  des  premiers  vaisseaux  (pii  viendront,  Sa  Majeste  ait  ete 
iiiformee  de  leur  conduite,  et  (][u'ils  se  soient  justifies  des  c.i!)ales 
(prils  ont  formees,  fomentees  et  entretenues  contre  leur  devoir  et 
]('  serment  de  fidelite  qu'ils  etaient  obliges  de  garder  a  Sa  dite 
iMiJjeste. 

J*riant  le  dit  Sieur  Kveipie  acquiescer  a  la  dite  interdiction 
pour  le  bien  du  service  du  Roi,  et  vouloir  proocder  par  I'avis 


414 


APPENDIX. 


d'line  Assembloo  piibliqup  h  nonvollo  nomination  des  Consoillt  ra 
en  hi  place  (le8  dits  Sieurs  Interdits  pour  pouvoir  nnidro  la  jus- 
tice aux  pouples  et  habitants  de  ce  pays,  Ueclarant  que  nuiig 
Sieur  dc  Mesy  no  pouvons  en  nommer  aiKum  de  notre  part  en 
la  fai.'on  en  laquelle  nou>^  avons  ete  siirpris  par  notre  facilite  lors 
de  la  premiere  nomination  manque  (I'mie  parfaite  connai.ssanee, 
et  que  s'il  est  fait  quehpie  ehose  an  prc'judice  de  cet  avertisst'- 
ment  par  aueuu  des  dits  Conseillers  interdits,  ils  seront  traites 
ronnne  desobeissants,  fomenteurs  de  rebellions  et  contraires  au 
repos  public. 

(Signt^)  "Mesy." 


It; 

r 

li".. 

t' 

I 


RePONSB   de    l'EveQUE    de    PETUfeB. 

Jlegistre  <lu   Conse.il  Superieur. 

16  Fev.  1004. 

Laissant  a  part  les  paroles  oflTensives  et  accusations  injuri- 
enses  qui  me  regardent  dans  I'affiche  niise  au  son  du  tambnur  lo 
trei/ieme  de  ce  mais  de  Fevrier,  an  potean  public,  dont  je  pre- 
tends nie  justifier  devant  Sa  Majeste  je  reponds  a  la  priere  (juo 
Monsieur  h'  (louvernenr  m'v  fait  d'afjreer  I'interdiction  des  per- 
sonnes  qui  y  sont  comprises,  et  (h;  vouloir  proceder  a  la  nomi- 
nation d'antres  Con^^eillers  ou  Otfieiers  et  ce  par  I'avis  d'uiie 
assemblee  publicine,  que  ni  ma  conseieiuM^  ni  mon  honneur,  ni  Ic 
respeet  et  obeis>an('e  cpie  je  duis  aux  volont('s  et  coiiunando- 
ments  du  Hoi,  ni  la  fideliie  et  I'atl'eetion  (pie  je  dois  a  son  ser- 
vice ni!  me  le  permettent  aucuneuKMit  juscpies  a  ce  que  dans  uii 
jugement  legitime  les  desnommes  (hms  la  susdite  ailiehe  soieiit 
cenvaincus  di-s  ei'itnes  dont  ou  hs  y  accuse. 

A  Quebec  ct!  seizieme  Fevrier  mil-six-cent-soixante-(piatre. 

(Signe)      '*  Fi{AX(;ois,"  Evequk  dk  Qui:hkc. 

FiUn'gistre  a  la  requete  de  IMgr.  I'Kveque  de  Petree  ce  16 
Fevrier   UjG4  par  moi   Secretaire  au  Conseil   Souveraiu  sous- 


signe. 


(Signe) 


Pkuvrkt,  Secret", 
avec  paraphe. 


APPENDIX. 


415 


)n  des  Conseilltrs 
)ir  reiidre  la  jus- 
3clarant  (jue  iioiig 
do  iiotre  part  en 
iiotre  facilito  l(trs 
aite  coiinaissanoe, 
0  de  cet  avertisse- 
ils  seront  traites 
et  contraires  au 

e)  "Mesy." 

16  Fkv.  l(iG4. 
accusations  injuri- 
■;on  du  tambour  le 
uhlic,  dont  je  |>re- 
[Is  a  la  pricre  quo 
iterdlctioii  des  per- 
ii'ocedor  a  la  iiuiui- 
!e  par  I'avis  d'uiio 
moil  lioiineur,  iii  Ic 
iit('S  et  coiiimaiido- 
e  jo  dois  a  son  sor- 
a  CO  que  dans  uu 
suite  alliclie  soieiit 

i-poixante-tpiatre. 
iQUK  i)K  Qui:nKC. 

e  de  Petree  ce  16 
il   So'iveraiu  suus- 

Pkuvukt,  Secret", 
avec  paraplie. 


Lettre  de  Mesy  aux  Jesuites. 
(Exlrait.)     Collection  de  VAhhe  Ferland. 

Corame  ainsi  soit  que  la  gloire  de  Dieu,  le  service  du  lloi  et  le 
service  du  public  nous  aient  engages  de  venir  en  ce  pays  pour  y 
reiicontrer  i.otre  salut  par  la  sollicitation  de  M.  I'Eve.jue  de 
Petree  qui  nous  a  fait  agreer  au  Roi  podr  avoir  riionneur  d'etre 
son   Lieutenant  Goneral  et   Gouverneur  de  toute  la  Nouvelle 
France,  representer  sa  personne  dans  le  Conseil  Souverain  qu'il 
a  etabli  dans  ce  dit  pays  pour  exercer  la  justice,  police  et  finance, 
ce  qui  nous  tient  lieu  d'obligation  vers  nion  dit  Sieur  I'Eveque 
pour  lui  donner  des  marques  de  reconnaissance  en  toutes  ren- 
contres.    A  (juoi  nous  somnies  aussi  obliges  par  son  merite  par- 
ticulier  et  par  le  respect  (|ui  est  d(i  a  son  caractcre,  mais  qui  ne 
doit  entrer  en  nulle  consid(n-ation  pour  le  regard  du  service  et 
de  la  lidelite  que  nous  sommes  oblige  de  rendre  a  S.  M. ;  netant 
pas  ni  de  notre  conscience  ni  dt  notre  honneur  d'avoir  accepte  la 
commission  dont  il  nous  a  honore,  pour  n'en  pas  faire  le  deub  de 
notre  charge  et  de  trabir  l^s  interets  de  Sa  dito  Majeste;  lui  en 
ayant  fait  le  serinent  de  fidelite  entre  ses  mains  et  d'en  avoir 
re9U  le  commandenient  par  sa  bouche.     Pourquoi  ayant  rencon- 
tre plusieurs  pratiques  que  nous  avons  cru  en  conscience  par  de- 
voir etre  oblige  d'en  empecher  la  suite,  nous  aurions  fait  publier 
notre  declaration  du   18®  jour  de  Fevrier  dernior,  et  ne  I'ayant 
pu  faire  faire  sans  y  interesser  le  S""  Evecpie,  notre  dite  declara- 
tion nous  fait  passer  dans  son  esprit  et  de  tous  Messieurs  les 
Kccl(5siastiques  (jui  considerent  cfi  point  d'unc  pretendue  offense 
sans  avoir  egard  aueunenient  aux  interets  du  Roy  pourun  calom- 
niateur,  mauvais  jnge,  un  ingrat  et  conscience  erronnee  et  plu- 
sieurs  autres   termes    injurieux   qui    se    publient  journellenient 
contre  Tautorite  du    Roy,  en  faisant  un  point  de  reprobation  de 
la  dite  pretendue  offense,  un  des  principaux  nous  etant  venu 
avertir  que  Ton  nous  pourrait  faire  fermer  la  porte  des  Eglises 
et  nous  empecher  de  recevoir  les  S"  Sacrements,  si  nous  ne  repa- 
rions  la  dite  pretendue  olfense,  ce  qui  nous  donne  un  scrupule  en 
1  ame  ;  et  de  plus  ne  pouvant  nous  adresser  pour  nous  en  eclair- 
<'ir  qu'a  des  nersonnes  qui  se  declarent  ncs  parties  et  qui  jugen^ 
du  fait  sans  en  savoir  la  cause  ;  mais  n'}'  ayant  rien  de  si  impor- 
t.int  au  monde  que  le  salut  et  la  fidelit«5  que  uous  devons  garder 


416 


APPENDIX. 


mi 


pour  les  int^rets  du  Roi  que  uous  tenons  in8e[)arables  I'un  do 
I'autre,  et  recoiinaissant  qu'ii  n'y  a  rieii  de  si  certain  que  la  inort 
et  rieu  de  si  inconnu  que  I'heure,  et  que  le  temps  est  long  pour 
informer  Sa  Majeste  de  ce  qui  se  passe,  pour  en  recevoir  ses 
ordres,  et  qu'en  attendant,  une  ume  est  toujours  dans  la  crainte 
quoiqu'elle  se  connaisse  dans  I'innocence,  nous  somnies  oblige 
avoir  ueaumoins  recours  aux  Reverends  Peres  Casuistcs  de  la 
maison  de  Jesus  pour  nous  dire  en  leur  conscience  ce  que  nous 
pouvons  pour  la  decharge  de  la  notre  et  pour  garder  la  ridi'litc 
que  nous  devons  avoir  pour  le  service  du  Roi,  les  priant  qu'ils 
aient  agreable  signer  ce  qu'ils  jugeront  au  bas  de  cet  ecrit,  afiu 
de  nous  servir  de  garantie  vers  sa  Majeste. 

Fail    au    Chateau  de    Quebec,  ce  dernier  jour   de    Fevrier, 
16G4. 

«  Mesy." 


E. 


MARRIAGE   AND  POPULATION. 


Lettue  de  Colbert  a  Talox. 


as 

tffiv 


P 


(^Extrait.)      Archives  de  la  Murine. 

Paris,  20  Fevrier,  1068. 
Sa  Majeste  a  fai»'  une  gratification  de  loOO  livres  a  M'  de 
Lamotte,  1"  Capitanie  au  Regiment  de  Carignan-Salieres,  taut 
en  consideration  du  service  qu'il  rend  en  Canada,  de  la  construc- 
tion (les  forts  et  de  ses  expeditions  qui  out  ete  fiiites  contre  les 
lro(|U()is.  que  du  niariage  qu'il  a  contracte  dans  le  pays,  et  de  la 
resolution  (ju'il  a  prise  de  s'y  habituer.  Kile  a  ordonne  de  plus 
la  somni*'  <le  O'M'O  livres  pour  etre  disti'ibuees  aux  otliciers  des 
memes  troupes,  ou  qui  s'y  sont  deja  nuiries  ou  qui  s'y  marieront 
afin  de  leur  donner  des  movcns  de  s'etablir  et  de  niieux  s'atferinir 
dans  la  jiensee  ou  ils  sont  de  ne  pas  revenir  en  France.  Kile 
fait  un  autre  fond  de  12,000  livres  pour  etre  distribue  aux  sol- 
dats  (pii  resteront  aux  pays  et  qui  s'y  marieront,  autres  (}ue 
ceux  (les  quatre  comj)agnies  qu'elle  y  laisse,  ces  derniers  etaut 
entreteiuis  par  le  i)aiement  de  leur  solde  ....    1200  livres  pour 


APPENDIX. 


417 


eparables  I'un  do 
;rtaiii  que  la  mori 
ips  est  long  pour 
r  en  recevoir  ses 
s  dans  la  craiiitu 
18  sommes  oblige 
;s  Casuistcs  de  la 
ence  ce  que  nous 
garder  la  Hdi'lito 
)i.  les  priant  quils 
de  cet  ecvit,  atin 

jour   de    Fevrier, 
"  Mesy." 


ION. 


I. 


ine. 

s,  20  Fevrier,  ir)*^. 

00  livres  a  M'  de 
rnan-Salieres,  taut 
,da,  de  la  construc- 
ts, fiiites  contre  les 
ns  le  pays,  et  de  la 
a  ordonne  de  plus 
s  aux  otliciera  des 

1  (pii  s'y  marieront 
le  niicux  s'aiVtTUilr 

en  France.  Kile 
distrihue  aux  sol- 
ieront,  uutres  que 
ces  derniers  etaut 
.    1200  livres  pour 


oelui  des  meilleurs  habitants  qui  a  15  onfants,  et  800  livres  pour 
I'autre  (jui  en  a  dix.  Kile  a  aussi  gratiHe  M.  I'Kvequede  Petree 
(Vune  sonime  de  ()(»00  livres  pour  ooutinuer  a  I'assister  pour  sou- 
tenir  sa  dignite,  fournir  aux  besoins  de  son  Eglise  et  de  son 
souiinaire,  et  enfin  40,000  livres  pour  etre  em[)loyees  a  la  levee 
de  150  honimes  et  de  50  filles  depuis  IG  jusqu'a  30  ans  et  non 
;ui  dela ;  outre  'I'^^b  que  la  Compagnie  y  fait  passer  cetle  annee, 
et  qui  devaient  y  etre  j)assc'es  Tannue  dorniere ;  12  Cavales, 
2  etalons,  2  gros  anes  de  Mirbelais  et  50  brebis  ;  a  quoi  Ton 
fravaille  dans  les  provinces  du  royauuio,  et  Ton  n'oublie  rien 
pour  rembarqueuieut  partant  de  la  liuclielle  vers  la  tin  du  mois 
prochain. 

.  .  .  .  Je  vous  prie  de  bien  faire  considerer  a  tout  le  pays  que 
lour  bien,  leur  subsistance,  et  tout  ee  qui  pent  les  regarder  de 
plus  pres  depend  d'une  resolution  publique  a  laquelle  il  ne  soit 
jrimais  contrevenu  de  marier  les  gar<;ons  a  18  ou  ID  ans,  et  les 
tilles  a  14  ou  15  ans;  que  les  oppositions  de  n'avoir  j)as  sutfi- 
s;nnnu'nt  pour  vivre  doivent  etre  rcjetees,  parceque  dans  ees  jjaya 
et  le  Cajiada  premierement  ou  tout  le  luoiide  travaille,  il  se 
produit  pour   tons   la  subsistance  et  (pie  Tabondance  ne  pent 

jamais   leur  venir  que  par  Taboudance  des  hoinmes II 

serait  bon  de  rendre  les  charges  et  servitudes  doubles  a  IV'gard 
lies  gar(;ons  (jui  ne  se  marieraient  point  a  cet  age  .  .  .  .  et  a 
I'cgard  de  ceux  qui  send)leraient  avoir  absoluuient  rcnonce  au 
inuriage,  il  serait  a  propos  de  leur  augmenter  les  charges,  de  les 
jiriver  de  tons  honneurs,  memc  d'y  ajouter  quelque  marque 
(rint'amie. 

....  l^ien  que  le  Iloyaume  de  France  soit  autant  peuple 
qu'aucun  pays  du  nionde,  il  est  certain  qu'il  serait  dilliL-ilu  d'en- 
tretenir  de  grandes  arniees  et  de  taire  passer  en  memo  temps  de 

grandes  Colonies  dans  les  pays  eloignes II  taut  done  se 

reduire  a  tircr  seulement  chaque  annee  avec  i)ro -aution  un 
iiombre  d'habitants  de  I'un  et  de  I'autre  sexe,  pour  les  euvoyer 
'lu  Canada,  et  fonder  principalement  raugnientation  de  la  colonie 
sur  rauginentation  des  mariages,  a  mesure  que  le  nombre  dea 
colons  auirnieiitera. 


418 


APPENDIX. 


Lettre  dk  Talon  a  Colbert. 
(Exlrait.)      Archives  de  la  Marine. 

10  NOVEMBRE,  1670. 

.  .  .  .  De  toutes  les  filles  venues  cette  annee  au  nombre  de 
IGo,  il  n'en  reste  pas  30  a  niarier.  Apres  que  les  soldats  venus 
cette  r.nnee  auront  travaille  a  faire  uue  habitation,  lis  se  porte- 
j-ont  au  mariage ;  pour  quoi  il  serait  bon  qu'il  plut  a  Sa  Mujeste 
d'envoyer  encore  150  a  200  lilies. 

....  11  serait  bon  de  recommander  que  les  filles  destinees  a 
ce  pays  ne  soieut  nullement  disgraciees  de  la  nature,  qu'ellcs 
n'aient  rien  de  rebuttant  a  I'exterieur  ;  qu'elles  soient  saines  et 
fortes  pour  le  travail  de  canipagne,  ou  dunioins  qu'elles  aient 
quelqu'industrie  pour  les  ouvrages  de  main. 

....  Trois  ou  quatre  filles  de  naissance  et  distinguees  par 
la  qualite  serviraient  peut-etre  utilement  a  lier  par  le  mariage 
de?  otiiciers  qui  ne  tiennent  au  pays  que  par  les  appointements 
e't  I'emolument  de  leurs  terres,  et  qui  par  la  disproportion  des 
conditions  ne  s'engagent  pas  davantage.  Si  le  Hoi  fait  passer 
d'autres  filles  ou  femmes  veuves  de  I'Ancienne  a  la  Nouvelle- 
France,  il  est  bon  de  les  faire  accompi^'ner  d'un  certificat  »le  leur 
Cure  ou  du  juge  du  lieu  qui  fasse  counaitre  qu'elles  sont  libres 
et  en  etat  d'etre  mariees,  sans  quoi  les  Ecclesiastiques  d'ici  font 
di<ficulte  de  leur  conferer  ce  sacrement ;  a  la  verite  ce  n'est  pas 
sauo  raison,  2  ou  3  doubles  mariages  s'etant  reconnus  ici ;  ou 
pourrait  preudre  la  meme  precaution  pour  les  hommes  veufs. 


Lettre  de  Tai.on  a  Colbert. 
{Extrait.)      Archives   de   la   Marine. 

2  Novembre,  1671. 
.  .  .  .  Le  nombre  des  enfants  nes  cette  annee  est  de  G  a  700. 
....  J'estime  qu'il  n'est  plus  necessaire  de  faire  passer  des 
demoiselles,  en  ayant  recju  cette  annee  quinze  ainsi  qualifiees  au 
lieu  de  quatre  que  je  demandais  pour  faire  des  alliances  avec  les 
Dlliciers  ou  les  priucipaux  habitants  d'ici 


APPENDIX. 


419 


F. 


CHATEAU  ST.  LOUIS. 

This  structure,  destined  to  be  famous  in  Canadian  history, 
was  originally  built  by  Samuel  de  Champlain.  The  cellar  still 
remains,  under  the  wooden  platform  of  the  present  DL;vham 
Terrace.  Behind  the  chateau  was  the  area  of  the  fort,  now 
an  open  square.  In  the  most  famous  epoch  of  its  history,  the 
time  of  Frontenac,  the  chateau  was  old  and  dilapidated,  and 
the  fort  was  in  a  sad  condition.  "The  walls  are  all  down," 
writes  Frontenac  in  1G81 ;  "there  are  neither  gates  nor  guard- 
house ;  the  whole  place  is  open."  On  this  the  new  intendant, 
Meules,  was  ordered  to  report  what  repairs  were  needed.  Mean- 
while La  Barre  had  come  to  replace  Frontenac,  whose  com- 
plaints he  repeats.  He  says  that  the  wall  is  in  ruin  for  a 
distance  of  a  hundred  and  eighty  toises.  "The  workmen  ask 
6000  francs  to  repair  it.  I  could  get  it  doue  in  France  for 
2000.  The  cost  frightens  me.  I  have  done  nothing."  {La  Barre 
au  Ministre,  1682.)  Meules,  however,  received  orders  to  do 
what  was  necessary ;  and,  two  years  later,  he  reports  that  he 
has  rebuilt  the  wall,  repaired  the  fort,  and  erected  a  building, 
intended  at  first  for  the  council,  within  the  area.  This  building 
stood  near  the  entrance  of  the  present  St.  Louis  Street,  and  was 
enclosed  by  an  extension  of  the  fort  wall. 

Denonville  next  appears  on  the  scene,  with  his  usual  disposi- 
tion to  fault-finding.  The  so-called  chateau,  he  says  (1685)  is 
built  of  wood,  "  and  is  dry  as  a  match.  There  is  a  place  where 
with  ".  bundle  of  straw  it  could  be  set  on  fire  at  any  time ;  .  .  . 
some  of  the  gates  will  not  close ;  there  is  no  watch-tower,  and 
no  place  to  shoot  from."  {DenoiwUle  au  Ministre,  20  Aout, 
1685.) 

When  Frontenac  resumed  the  government,  he  was  much 
disturbed  at  the  condition  of  the  chateau,  and  begged  for  slate 
to  cover  the  roof,  as  the  rain  was  coming  in  everywhere.  At 
the  same  time  the  intendant,  Champigny,  reports  it  to  be  rotten 
and  ruinous.  This  was  in  the  year  made  famous  by  the  Englist 
attack,  and  the  dramatic  scene  in  the  hall  of  the  old  building 


420 


APPENDIX. 


when    Frontenac  defied   the  envoy  of  Admiral   Pliipps,  whoso 
fleet  lay  in  tiie  river  below.     In  the  next  summer,  1  ('»'.)  1,  Fron- 
tenac again  asks  for  slate  to  cover  the  roof,  and  for  15, ()(>()  or 
20,000  francs  to  repair  his  mansion.     In  the  next  year  tlie  kiiij; 
promises  to  send  him  12,000  francs,  in  instalments.     Frontenac 
acknowledges  the  favor ;  and  says  that  he  will  erect  a  new  build- 
ing, and  try  in  the  n)ean  time  not  to  l>j  buried  under  the  old  one, 
as  he  expects  to  be  every  time  the  wind  bh>ws  hard.     {Fron- 
tenoc  ail  Ministre,   1.)  Sept.,  HV.)2.)     A  misunderstanding  with 
the  intendant,  who  had  control  of  the  money,  interrupted  the 
work.     Frontenac  writes  the  next  year  that  he  had  been  obliged 
to  send  for  cari)enters,  during  the  night,  to  prop  up  the  chutein, 
lest  he  should  be  crushed  under  the  ruins.     The  wail  of  the  fort 
was  however  strengthened,  and  partly  rebuilt  to  the  hei<ihl  of 
sixteen  feet,  at  a  cost  of  l.'i.02*.)  francs.     It  was  a  time  of  war, 
and  a  fresh   attack   was  expected  from    the    Englisii.     {Fron- 
tenac  et  C/iamjtif/ny  an  Mlnlstre,  4  Nov.,  IGD.'i.)      In  the  yar 
1854,  the  workmen  employed  in  demolishing  a  part  of  tliis  wall, 
adjoining  the  garden  of  the  chateau,  found  a  copper  plate  bear- 
ing an  inscription  in  Latin  as  follows:  "  In  the  year  of  Redemp- 
tion lGi)3,  under  the  reign  of  the  most  august,  most  invincil>le, 
and  most  Christian  Kin>;  of  France,  Louis  the  Great,  fourteenth 
of  that  name,  the  most  exc-ellent  Louis  de  Buade,  Count  of  Fron- 
tenac, governor  for  the  second  time  of  all  New  France,  seeing 
that  the  rebellious  inhabitants  of  New  England,  who  three  vears 
ago  were  repulsed,  routed,  and  comph^ely  vaiupjished  by  liini 
when  they  besieged  this  town  of  (Quebec,  are  threatening  to  renew 
the  siege  this  very  yeai-,  has  caused  to  be  built,  at  the  expense  of 
the  king,  this  citadel,  with   the  fortifications  adjoining  thereto, 
for  the  defence  of  the  country,  for  the  security  of  llie  people,  and 
for  confounding  yet  again  that  nation  perlidions  alike  towards  its 
God  and  its  lawful  king.     And  he  \_Fronteuac']  has  placed  lure 
Miis  first  stone." 

A  year  later,  the  rebuilding  of  the  chateau  was  begun  in 
earnest.  Frontenac  says  that  nothing  but  a  miracle  has  saved 
him  from  bemg  buried  under  its  ruins;  that  he  has  pulled  every 
thini;  down,  and  bejiun  ajjaitj  from  the  foundation,  but  that  the 
money  has  given  out.  {Frontenac  au  Ministre,  4  Nuc,  1()1)4.) 
Accordingly,  he  and  the  intendant  sold  six  licenses  for  the  fur- 


APPENDIX. 


421 


ireateiiiiiii  to  veuvw 


trade;  but  at  a  rate  unusually  low,  for  thoy  brouj^ht  only  4,i00 
IVancs.  The  kiuj;,  hearin-r  of  this,  sent  G,0()()  more.  Froiiteuac 
iH  profuse  iti  thanks ;  and  at  the  same  time  begs  for  another 
r)0(i()  francs,  "to  complete  a  work  which  is  the  ornament  and 
beauty  of  the  city"  (10!)G).  The  minister  sent  8,000  more, 
which  was  soon  ^one ;  and  Frontenae  drew  on  the  royal  treas- 
urer for  5,047  in  addition.  The  intendant  complains  of  his 
extravagance,  and  says  that  he  will  have  nothing  but  perfection ; 
an<l  that,  besides  the  chateau,  he  has  insisted  on  buildinjr  two 
guard-houses,  with  Mansard  roofs,  at  the  two  sides  of  the 
gate.  "I  must  do  as  he  says,"  adds  the  intendant,  "or  there 
will  be  a  quarrel."  {Champiyini  an  lUinistre,  13  Oct.,  161)7.) 
In  a  letter  written  two  days  after,  Frontenae  speaks  with  ereat 
complacency  of  his  chateau,  and  asks  for  another  6,000  francs 
to  finish  it.  As  the  case  was  urgent,  he  sold  six  more  licenses, 
at  1 ,000  francs  each ;  but  he  died  too  soon  to  see  the  completion 
of  his  favorite  work  (1698).  The  new  chateau  was  not  finished 
before  1700,  and  even  then  it  had  no  cistern.  In  a  pen-sketch 
of  C^uebec  on  a  manuscript  map  of  1699,  preserved  in  the  Depot 
des  Cartes  de  la  Marine,  the  new  chfiteau  is  distinctly  repre- 
sented. In  front  is  a  gallery  or  balcony,  resting  on  a  wall  and 
buttresses  at  the  edge  of  the  cliff.  Above  the  gallery  is  a  range 
of  high  windows  along  the  face  of  the  building,  and  over  these 
a  range  of  small  windows  and  a  Mansard  roof.  In  the  middle  is 
a  porch  oj)ening  on  the  gallery ;  and  on  the  left  extends  a  bat- 
tery, on  the  ground  now  occupied  by  a  garden  along  the  brink 
of  the  cliff'.  A  water-color  sketch  of  the  chateau  taken  in  1804, 
from  the  land-side,  by  William  Morrison,  Jr.,  is  in  my  posses- 
sion. The  building  appears  to  have  been  completely  remod- 
elled in  the  interval.  It  is  two  stories  in  height ;  the  Mansard 
roof  is  gone,  and  a  row  of  attic  windows  surmounts  the  second 
story.  In  1809  it  was  again  remodelled,  at  a  cost  of  ten  thou- 
sand pounds  sterling.  A  third  story  was  added ;  and  the  build- 
innr,  resting:  on  tlu^  buttresses  which  still  remain  under  the 
balustrade  of  Durham  Terrace,  had  an  imposing  effect  when 
seen  from  the  river.      It  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  1834. 


422 


APPENDIX. 


G. 


it  ^■ 


is- 


i. 


m 

tu- 
m 

I 


TRADE  AND  INDUSTRY. 

{Extrait.)     Archives  de  la  Marine. 

Lkttkk  de  Dknonvillb  au  Ministrb. 

a  qukbec  le  13  novembre,  1685. 
....  J'ai  reiuarqiie,  Monseigneiir  que  les  fenitiies  et  tillos,  y 
sont  assez  paresseuses  par  le  manque  de  menus  ouvrages  u  .so 
donner,  il  y  a  un  pen  trop  de  luxe  dans  la  pauvrete  generals  (i(\s 
demoiselles  ou  soi  disantes ;  les  menus  ouvrages  de  caputs  et  de 
chemises  de  traite  les  occupent  un  pen,  pendant  I'hiver,  et  leur 
font  gagner  quelque  chose,  mais  cela  ne  dure  pas,  I'endroit  de 
pauvrete  de  ce  pays,  est  le  manque  de  toilles  et  de  serges  ou 
draps,  cependant  c'est  ici  le  pays  du  monde  le  plus  proprc  a 
faire  des  chanvres,  et  du  fil,  et  par  consequent  de  la  toille,  si  on 
s'en  voulait  donner  la  peine.  Mr.  Talon  s'y  est  donnd  du  soiii 
pour  cela,  aussi  y  a-t-il  une  cote  qui  est  celle  de  Beaupre,  ou  (»n 
en  fait,  mais  ce  n'est  que  chez  quelques  habitans.  J'ai  fort 
exorte  la  dessus  tous  les  peuples  d'y  travailler,  pour  y  reussir,  ii 
faut  y  apporter  de  la  severite  et  de  I'utilite  si  il  y  a  moyeu,  ce 
dernier  avec  le  temps  et  I'industrie  arrivera,  et  le  premier  de  nia 
part  ne  manquera  pas,  je  n'ai  pu  avoir  d'autre  raison,  pourquoi 
on  ne  faisait  point  de  chanvres,  si  ce  n'est  que  Ton  n'avait  pus 
assez  de  temps,  a  cause  que  les  saisons  de  labourer,  senier  et 
recueillir  sont  trop  courtes,  car  en  ce  pays  le  bled  ne  se  seme 
qu'en  Avril  et  May.  Si  le  Roy  voulait  aclieter  les  chanvres  un 
pen  plus  cher  jusques  a  ce  que  Ton  fut  en  train,  cela  pourait  les 
animer,  avec  un  ordre  a  chacun  d'en  fournir  une  certaine  quan- 
tite  on  pourra  les  faire  agir,  si  outre  cela  on  avait  quehjues 
ouvriers  tisserands  a  distribuer  par  paroisses,  et  qui  ne  fussent  a 
la  charge  du  peuple  que  pour  leurs  nouritures,  ce  serait  uu 
moyen  pour  faire  ap{)rendre  aux  enfants.  Les  Cures  nous  ren- 
draieut  compte  du  nombre  de  ceux  qui  apprcndraient  a  preparer 
la  chanvre  et  lillasse,  et  a  faire  de  la  toille;  avant  que  d'eii 
venir  la  il  faudrait  montrer  a  filer  aux  filles  et  aux  femmes,  cur 
il  y  en  a  tres  pen,  qui  sachent  tenir  le  fuseau,  c'est  en  cela  que 
les  filles  de  la  congregation  de  Montreal  feront  merveilles.     II 


APPENDIX. 


423 


e. 

TRB. 

3    NOVEMDRE,  1685. 

enitnes  et  tillos,  y 
lus  ouvrages  ii  .so 
trete  generulo  de.s 
IS  de  I'upots  et  do 
lilt  riiivor,  et  leiir 
B  pas,  reiidroit  de 
i8  et  de  serges  on 
!   le  plus  proprc  iv 
L  de  lu  toille,  si  on 
38t  doiind  du  soin 
le  Beaupre,  ou  on 
abitaiis.     J'ai   fort 
•,  pour  y  reussir,  il 
ji  il  y  a  moyeu,  ce 
t  le  premier  de  ma 
re  raison,  pourquoi 
[ue  Ton  n'avait  pas 
labourer,  seiner  et 
le  bled  ue  se  seme 
;er  les  chanvres  uu 
liu,  cela  pourait  lud 
uue  certaine  quan- 
on  avait  quohpK's 
et  qui  ne  fusseiit  a 
ures,  ce   serait   uu 
es  Cures  nous  r«'ii- 
udraient  ii  preparer 
e;  avant  que  d'en 
et  aux  femmes,  car 
i,  c'est  en  cela  que 
:ont  merveilles.     H 


nouB  est  venu  de  la  part  de  Mr.  Arnoul  deux  bariques  de  graine 
de  chanvre  quo  je  ferai  Uistribuer  et  dont  je  me  ferai  rendre 
compte. 

Je  croyais,  Monseigneur,  une  ordonnance  necessaire  encore  a 
faire  pour  engager  cluKjue  habitant  a  avoir  deux  ou  trois  brebis, 
n'y  en  ayant  pas  sulHsainent  dans  le  pays. 

....  II  n'est  pas  pos.sible  qu'on  ne  puisse  faire  une  verrerie 
en  ce  pays,  la  plus  grande  aH'aire  sout  les  ouvriers  qui  encheris- 
sent  tout  car  Ton  donne  ordinairement  et  communement  a 
chaque  ouvrier  par  jour  (juarente  sols  nouris,  cinquante  sols  et 
un  ecu,  et  tons  ces  maraux  n'en  sont  pas  plus  riches  car  ils  met- 
tent  tout  k  boire. 

Sign^:  Le  M"^'^^'*  de  Denonville. 


MiMOIRE       A      MONSEIONEUR       LE       MaRQUIS      DE       SeIONELAY,       8UR 
L'feTAHMSSEMENT    DU     COMMERCE     EN    CaNADA,    PRESENTil   PAR    LES 

SiuuRs  Chalons  et  Uiverix. 

(Exlrait.)     Archives  de  la  Marine. 

(Joint  a  la  lettrb  do  Sieur  de  Riverin,  du  7  Fevrier,  1686.) 
....  I''n  effet  si  cette  colonie  n'a  pas  avancd  depuis  le  temps 
de  son  dtablissement,  c'est  que  lea  habitants  qui  la  composent  ou 
par  leur  negligence  ou  par  leur  peu  d'experience  dans  les 
affaires,  ou  enfin  par  leur  impuissance  ne  se  sont  pas  mis  en 
estat  de  se  servir  des  avantages  quelle  renferme  en  elle-mesme. 
et  des  moyens  qu'elle  leur  fournit  pour  un  commerce  solide  et 
considerable. 

Car  il  ne  faut  pas  regarder  la  traitte  des  pelleteries  h  laquelle 
seule  on  s'est  attache  jusqu'a  present  et  qui  linira  avec  le  temps 
par  la  destruction  des  bestes,  conime  un  moyen  propre  a  son 
avancement,  au  contraire  I'experience  a  fait  connoistre  (ju'elle 
rend  les  habitans  faineans  et  vagabonds,  qu'elle  les  detourne  de 
la  culture  des  terres,  de  la  pesche,  de  la  navigation  et  des  autres 
entreprises. 


424 


APPENDIX. 


S 


ft ' 


K5. 


MfeMOIRE  PU  SlEUR  DE  CaTALOGNR,  iNOEXiEUR,  SVH  I.E8  PLANS 
DKS  IIAIUTATIONS  KT  SkiGNEUUI  KS  I)K8  (ioUVEUNEMKN!*  UE  QUE- 
BEC, DE  Montreal  et  di  s  TRois-Kivii:REa. 

(Exh\At.  ^)     Archives  de  la  Marine. 

7  NOVEMURE,  1712. 

Ohservattons  snr  VetahJissemenf.  —  Que  par  rapport  ii  ];i 
graudf  rteiidue  qn'oii  a  donnee  a  1  etablissement,  il  n'y  a  pus  le 
quart  des  ouvriers  qu'il  faudroit  pour  biou  ctendre  et  cul fiver  les 
terres. 

(^ue  les  laboureurs  ne  se  donuout  pas  assez  de  soin  pour  cul- 
tiver  les  terres,  ctant  oortaiii  que  la  semeiice  d'un  minot  do  hie, 
seme  sur  de  la  terre  cultivee  eounne  eu  Frauce,  produira  plus 
que  deux  autres  comme  ou  seme  eu  Caua,da. 

(Jue  coiuuie  les  saisous  sout  trop  courtes  et  souveut  tres 
lUMUvaiM's,  il  serait  a  souhaiter  (jUe  rKglise  permit  les  travaux 
indispeusables,  que  les  fetes  d'ete  obligeut  de  c-lioiner,  etaut  tres 
vrai  que  depuis  le  raois  de  Mai  (pie  les  semences  oomuieuceiit 
jusipies  [\  la  fiu  de  Se})teuibr«,',  il  n"y  a  pas  1)0  jourueos  de  travail, 
par  rai)iK)rt  aux  fetts  et  au  mauvais  temps.  C'est  pourtant 
dans  cette  espaee  que  roule  la  solidite  de  eet  etablissemeut.  11 
faudrait  assujetir  les  hal)itaiis  ncgligens  a  travailler  a  la  culture 
des  terres,  en  les  privaut  <les  voyages  cpii  les  dispeuseut  de  tia- 
vailb'r,  et  cela  parce  (pi'uu  voyage  de  deux  ou  trois  mois  leur 
produit  .'30  ou  40  eseus  en  perdaiit  la  saisou  du  travail  a  la  terre, 
qui  les  fair  deuuMirer  en  friehe. 

Les  obligcr  d(?  seiner  (pianiite  de  cliauvre  et  lin  qui  vient  eu 
ce  pays  plus  gros  qu'en  Europe.  lis  s'en  relaciient  parec(|U(', 
disent-ils,  il  y  a  trop  de  peine  et  de  soins  a  le  mettre  en  (euvie. 
II  est  vrai  <pril  y  a  pen  de  gens  qui  s'entend(!nt  et  (pii  \v.  font 
pu^er  bien  elier. 

Assujetir  les  liabitatis  a  nourrir  et  a  elever  des  betes  a  comes, 
au  lieu  du  grand  noml)re  de  ehevaux  qin  ruinent  le  I'ac.ige  et 
qui  entraiui-nt  les  habitans  a  des  grosses  depmises,  taut  (pie  jt<»ur 
leurs  (.'(piipagcs  (pii  sont  fort  ehers  que  par  la  grande  (pumtite  de 
fourages  et  de  grains  qu'il  faut  pendant  7  ou  8  mois  de  lunnee, 


*  This  m€nwire  is  70  imges"  in  length. 


APPENDIX. 


425 


TR,     St!R     T-ES   PLANS 
EUNEMKNS    DK    QUK- 


ine. 
7  NovEMimi:,  1712. 

)ar  rapjKtrt  ii  la 
.Mit,  il  iTy  a  pas  ie 
iidre  et  cul  fiver  les 

(le  soil!  pour  cul- 
(Vun  uiinot  do  lile, 
nice,  produira  plus 

(s  et  souvent  tres 

permit  les  iravaux 

choiner,  etaiit  ires 

lences  ooininencciit 

journoes  tie  travail, 

s.     C'est   pourtaiit 

etablissemeiit.     11 

ailler  ii  la  ('ulture 

dispenseut  de  tra- 

ou  trois  mois  kiir 

I  travail  ii  la  terrc, 

I't  iin  fpii  viciit  en 
I'laelieiit  j)arctMjue, 
I  niettre  en  (eiivro. 
lent  et  qui  \v  tout 

dcs  betes  a  eonies, 
U('i:t  Ic  PacM^fe  et 
is«'s,  tant  que  p.iiu' 
L^raiide  (piaiitite  de 
.S  uiois  de  I'ainiee, 

th. 


^tant  tres  vrai  que  rentretien  d'un  cheval  coute  autant  que  deux 
boeufs. 

Obliger  les  Seigneurs  pour  fticlliter  retablissemeut  de  leurs 
Seigueuries  de  donner  suifisamment  des  terres  pour  commencer 
a  im  prix  modique  et  a  construire  des  mouliiis  et  les  commodites 
publitjues  ;  plusieurs  consoinineut  le  tiers  de  leur  temps  h  aller 
faires  leur  farines  a  15  ou  20  lieues,  et  que  les  Seigneurs,  des  que 
les  Seigneuries  sont  etablies,  eoncedent  des  terres  sans  que  les 
tenanciers  soient  obliges  de  })ayer  dcs  rentes  qu  apres  G  ans  que 
les  terres  soient  en  valeur. 

Ordoniier  au  grand  voyer  de  donner  son  application  a  faire 
etablir  les  chemins  et  pouts  necessaires  au  public,  qui  est  une 
neeessite  fort  esseiitielle. 

Obliger  les  habitans  ou  ceux  qui  sont  en  etat,  de  faire  des 
greniers  pourque  cliacun  fut  en  etat  de  conserver  du  grain  pour 
deux  annees  ;  cela  fait  une  fois,  Tabondance  se  trouvera  toujours 
au  Canada  au  lieu  (pie  la  plupart,  faute  de  cette  comniodite,  en 
man(pient  tres  souvent,  etant  oblige  de  le  vendre  a  vil  prix. 

C'hatier  severenient  tons  ceux  «|ui  sont  convaincus  de  fraude, 
mauvaise  foi  et  inq)Osture,  qui  est  un  mal  qui  conunence  a  etre 
bieu  en  racine  et  qui  indubitablement  le  privera  de  tout  com- 
merce, les  marchands  des  iles  et  de  Plaisance  s'en  etant  deja 
plaints. 

Que  comme  il  n'y  a  pas  de  notaires  dans  tons  les  lieux,  que  les 
conventions  et  les  marches  faits  en  presence  de  deux  teniuins 
vaudront  pendant  un  temps  Hxe. 

11  serait  a  souhaiter  que  S.  I\I.  voulut  etablir  dans  chaque  ville 
des  conseils  a  jnger  sans  frais  sur  le  fait  du  commerce  et  des 
allaires  (pii  n'entrent  pas  dans  la  coutume.  Ces  sortes  de  pro- 
cedures aussi  bieu  que  les  antres,  ne  prennent  aucune  fin  que 
lor?(pie  les  parties  n'ont  plus  d'argent  pour  plaider,  qui  est  la 
runie  des  families. 

Engager  un  certain  nombre  de  gens  du  pays  a  etudier  le 
pilotage,  meme  les  olllciers  des  troupes,  particulierement  du 
Heuve  St.  Laurent  qui  est  tres  dangereux,  la  plupart  du  temps 
ne  86  trouvant  pas  un  seul  pilote  en  Camida,  et  cependant  ou 
conunence  a  d(mner  dans  la  construction  ;  le  capitaine  du  Port 
et  M.  Duplessis  ayant  mis  un  vaisseau  de  3  a  400  toimeaux  sur 
les  cliantiers. 


426 


APPENDIX. 


m 

u 

»■ 


P 


». 

p- 


Cong^dier  de  temps  en  temps  des  soldats  en  leur  permettant 
de  se  marier,  apres  qu'ils  auront  un  etablissement. 

II  s'est  etabli  une  coutume  dans  ce  pays  autorisee  par  le 
magistral,  qui  meme  ne  me  })arait  pas  naturelle,  de  laisser  des 
bestiaux  a  rabandon  qui  la  plupart  gutent  les  grains  et  les 
prairies,  n'}'  ayant  presque  point  de  terres  cb^ses  qui  causent  <les 
contestes  et  de  la  mesintelligence  entre  les  voisins ;  pour  obvier 
a  cela  il  faudrait  qu'il  y  eut  des  gardiens  pour  chaque  nature 
d'animaux  pour  les  mener  dans  les  communes,  car  tel  qui  n'a 
pas  un  pouce  de  terre,  envoie  ses  animaux  paitre  sur  les  torres 
de  ses  voisins,  en  disant  que  I'abandon  est  donne ;  Si  S.  M.  vou- 
lait  couper  la  racine  h  une  pepiniere  de  proces  et  de  mesintelli- 
gence entre  les  Seigneurs  et  babitans,  il  serait  a  soubaiter  qu'elle 
voulut  donner  une  ordonnance  tendante  a  ce  que  les  Seigneuries 
et  autres  concessions  demeureraient  dans  les  limites  qu'elles  se 
trouvent  a  present,  sans  avoir  egard  aux  litres  portes  dans  les 
contrats,  pour  la  (juantite  et  les  rumbs  de  vent  qui  y  sont  an- 
nonces,  etant  a  remarquer  que  les  anciens  Seigneurs  et  babitans 
se  sont  etablis  de  bonne  foi,  que  les  terres  ont  ele  limitees  par 
des  arpenteurs  pen  intelligens,  et  aujourd'bui  que  la  cbicane  est 
en  vogue,  cbacun  veut  suivre  les  termes  de  son  contrat  qui  ten- 
dont  la  plupart  a  I'iinpossible.  Mr.  Raudot  a  donne  une  ordon- 
nance a  ce  sujet  pour  Tile  de  Montreal  seulement. 

Comme  la  plupart  des  rues  de  Quebec  et  de  Montreal  sont 
souvent  impraticables,  tant  par  les  rochers  que  par  les  bourl)iers, 
s'il  plaisait  a  S.  ^I.  d'ordonner  que  les  deniers  qui  proviennent 
des  auiendes  et  certaines  confiscations  seraient  employes  k  les 
meltre  en  etat. 

Que  la  subordinat'on  du  vassal  a  son  Seigneur  n'est  point  objct 
h  .     Cette  erreur  vienl  qu'il  a  eld  accorde  des  Sei- 

gneuries k  des  roturiers  qui  n'ont  pas  su  maintenir  le  droit  (jut;  la 
raison  leur  donne  k  I'egard  de  leur  co-sujets,  meme  les  otliiiers 
de  milice  qui  leur  sont  dependants,  n'ont  la  plupart  aucun  egard 
pour  leur  superiorite  et  veulent  dans  les  occasions  passer  pour 
indi'pcndants. 

II  serait  a  soubaiter  que  S.  M.  voultit  envoyer  dans  ce  pays 
toute  sorte  d'artisans,  particulierement  des  ouvriers  en  cordages 
el  filagcs,  (b's  poliersel  un  verrier,  et  ils  Irouveraienl  a  s'occupcr. 
Si  S.  M.  voulait  faire  envoyer  eu  marcbandises  une  partie  des 


APPENDIX. 


427 


I  leur  permettant 
tut. 

autorisee  par  le 
lie,  de  laisser  de8 
les  grains  et  les 
3s  qui  causent  des 
sins ;  pour  obvier 
ur  chaque  nature 
s,  car  tel  qui  u'u 
itre  sur  les  tones 
le  ;  Si  S.  M.  vou- 
et  de  mesintelli- 
i  souhaitcr  qu'elle 
Lie  les  Seigneurics 
limites  qu'elles  se 
s  portes  dans  les 
snt  qui  y  sont  an- 
^neurs  et  habitans 
it  t^te  liniitees  [)ar 
jue  la  chicane  est 
n  contrat  qui  teu- 
donne  une  ordon- 
;nt. 

de  Montreal  sont 
par  les  bour])iers, 
qui  proviennent 
t  employes  a  les 

r  n'est  point  objet 
accordo  des  Sei- 
nir  le  droit  (jue  !a 
lueme  les  oiliciers 
ipart  aucun  eganl 
ions  passer  i)0ur 

yer  dans  ce  pays 
a'iers  en  cordaijes 
uient  a  s'o('cu[ier, 
is  une  partie  des 


appointemens  de  Messrs.  les  officiers,  cela  leur  adoucirait  la 
durete  qu'eux  seuls  trouvent  dans  le  pays,  par  la  grande  cherts 
des  marchandises  causee  par  le  mauvais  retour  de  la  monnaie  de 
cartes  qui  fait  acheter  3  et  4  pour  100. 

Veu:  Vaudreuil. 

Veu:  Begon.  Catalogne. 


PI. 


LETTER  OF  FATHER  CARHEIL. 

Lbttre  du  PiiRE  Etienne  de  Carheil,  de   la  Cohpagnie  db 
Jesus,  a  l'Intendant  db  Championy. 

(^Extrait.^)    Archives  Nationales. 

A   MiCHILIMAKINA,  LE    30   d'AoUST,    1702. 

....  Nos  Missions  sont  re^duites  k  une  telle  extremity,  que 
nous  ne  pouvons  plus  les  soutenir  contre  une  multitude  infiuie  de 
drsordres,  de  brutalitez,  de  violences,  d'injustices,  d'impietez, 
d'impudicitez,  d'insolences,  de  mepris,  d'insultes  que  I'infame  et 
funeste  traitte  d'eau-de-vie  y  cause  universellement  dans  toutes 
les  nations  d'icy  haut,  oil  Ton  vient  la  faire,  allant  de  villages  en 
villages  et  courant  les  lacs  avec  une  quantite  prodigieuse  de 
barils,  sans  garder  aucune  mesure.  Si  Sa  Majeste  avoit  veu 
une  seule  fois  ce  qui  se  passe  et  icy  et  k  Montreal,  dans  tons  les 
temps  qu'on  y  fait  cette  malheureuse  traitte,  je  suis  sur  qu'elle  ne 
balanceroit  pas  un  moment,  des  la  premiere  vue,  a  la  deffendre 
pour  jamais  sous  les  plus  rigoureuses  peines. 

Dans  le  desespoir  ou  nous  sommes,  il  ne  nous  reste  point 
d'autre  party  a  prendre  que  celui  de  quitter  nos  Missions  et  de 
les  abandonner  aux  traittants  d'eau-de-vie,  pour  y  etablir  le 
domaine  de  leur  traitte,  de  I'ivrognerie  et  de  I'impurete.  C'est 
ce  que  nous  allons  proposer  h  nos  superieurs  en  Canada  et  en 
France,  y  etant  contraints  par  I'etat  d'inutilite  et  d'impuissance 
de  faire  aucun  fruit  oii  Ton  nous  a  reduita  par  la  permission  de 
cette  deplorable  traitte,  permission  que  Ton  n'a  obtenue  de  Sa 
Majeste  que  sous  un  pretexte  aparent  de  raisous  que  Ton  scait 

1  Tliis  letter  is  45  pages  long. 


^••'»-''^»*««w«iw»««iMi^^ 


428 


APPENDIX. 


■»■!■■ 


»■ 
I. 


t' 


etre  fausses,  permission  qu'clle  n'accorderoit  point,  si  ceux  aux- 
queis  elle  se  raporte  de  la  verite  la  lui  tesoient  connoislre  coniine 
ils  la  connoissent  eiix-monies  et  tout  le  Canada  avec  eiix,  jier- 
mission  enlin  qui  est  le  plus  grand  nial  et  le  principe  de  tons  les 
maux  qui  arrivent  presentement  au  pays,  et  surtout  des  nau- 
frages  dont  on  n'entendoit  point  encore  parler  ici  et  (|ue  nous 
apprenons  arriver  maintenant  presque  touttes  les  annees  ou  dans 
la  venue  ou  dans  le  retour  de  nos  vaisseaux  en  France,  par  uiie 
juste  puuilion  de  Dieu  qui  fait  perir  par  I'eau  ce  que  Ton  avoit 
mal  acipiis  par  I'eau-de-vie,  ou  qui  entend  euipecher  le  trans[)()rt 
pour  preveuir  le  mauvais  usage  qu'on  en  feroit.  Si  cette  pii- 
mission  n'est  revoqutk^  par  une  detlense  contraire,  nous  n'aurons 
plus  que  faire  de  domeurer  dans  aucune  de  nos  JNIissions  d'it-y 
haut,  pour  y  perdre  le  reste  de  notre  vie,  a*  touttes  nos  peiues 
dans  une  pure  inutilite  sous  I'enipire  d'une  contiuuelle  ivrognerie 
et  d'une  iuipurete  universelle  qu'on  ne  perinet  pas  moins  aux 
traitteurs  d'eau-de-vie  que  la  traitte  menie  doiit  elle  est  I'acconi- 
pagnement  et  la  suite.  Si  Sa  Majeste  veut  sauver  nos  missions 
et  sout«Miir  Tetablissement  de  la  Religion,'  comme  nous  ne  dou- 
tons  point  qu'elle  le  veuille,  nous  la  j-uplions  tres-humblement  de 
croire,  co  qui  est  tres  veritable,  qu'il  n'y  a  point  d'autre  moyen 
de  le  pouvoir  faire  que  d'abolir  les  deux  infames  commerces  qui 
les  out  reduites  a  la  necessite  prochaine  de  perir  et  qui  ne  tar- 
deront  pas  a  achever  de  les  perdi-e,  s'ils  ne  .^ont  au  plus  tost 
abolis  par  ses  ordres  et  mis  liors  d'etat  d'etre  rttablis.  Le  pre- 
mier est  le  commerce  de  I'eau-de-vie ;  le  second  est  le  commerce 
des  femmes  sauvages  avec  les  Fran(;ois,  qui  sont  tous  deux  aussy 
publics  I'un  que  I'autre,  sans  que  nous  jmissions  y  remedier,  pour 
n'estre  pas  appuyez  des  commandans  qui,  bien  loin  de  Its  vouloir 
empechiT  par  les  remontrances  que  nous  leur  faisons,  les  exer- 
cent  eux-memes  avec  plus  de  liberte  que;  leurs  inferieurs,  et  les 
autorisent  tellement  par  leur  exemple  (ju'en  le  regardant  on  s'tMi 
fait  une  permission  gei\(^rale  et  une  assurance  d'impunite  (jui  les 
rend  comnums  a  tout  ce  (jui  vient  icy  de  Fran(;ois  en  traitte,  de 
porte  que  tous  les  villagt's  de  nos  Sauvages  ne  sont  plus  (pie  (l«'s 
cabarets  pour  livrognerie  et  des  Sodomes  pour  I'lmpurete,  d'oii 
il  faut  <iue  nous  nous  retirions,  les  abandonnant  a  la  juste  colere 
de  Dieu  et  a  ses  vengeances. 

Vous  voyez  par  lii  (pie,  de  quelque  maniere  (ju'on  etablisse  le 


APPENDIX. 


429 


t,  si  ceux  aux- 
iinoistre  comine 
avec  eiix,  per- 
cipe  de  tons  les 
irtout   des  iiau- 
ici  et  que  nous 
iiunees  on  duns 
[^""rance,  par  une 
B  que  Ton  avoit 
lier  le  transport 
Si  cette  pcr- 
3,  nous  n'aurons 
i  Missions  d'ify 
ittes  nos  peiiies 
luelle  ivrognerie 
pas  moins  aux 
elle  est  Tacconi- 
ver  nos  missions 
le  nous  ne  dou- 
;-huml)leinent  de 
;  d'autre  nioyen 
,  commerces  (jui 
r  et  qui  ne  tar- 
)nt  au  plus  tost 
tablis.     Le  prc- 
lest  le  commerce 
tons  deux  aussy 
remedier,  pour 
hn  de  Its  vouioir 
[aisons,  les  exer- 
nterieurs,  et  les 
trardant  on  s'en 
mpunite  (pii  Ifs 
is  en  traitte,  de 
)nt  plus  (pu!  des 
rimpurete,  d'oii 
li  la  juste  colcre 

lu'on  etablisse  le 


commerce  Fran(;ois  avec  les  Sauvages,  si  Ton  veut  nous  retenir 
parmi  eux,  nous  y  conserver  et  nous  y  soutenir  en  qualite  de 
missionnaires  dans  le  libre  exercice  de  nos  fonctions  avec 
esperanc'3  d'y  faire  du  fruit,  il  taut  nous  delivrer  des  comman- 
dans  vt  de  leurs  garnison::  '^ui,  bien  loin  d'estre  necessuire:^,  sont 
au  contraire  si  pernicieuses  que  nous  jmuvons  dire  a\ec  verit(S 
qu'elles  sont  le  plus  grand  mal  de  nos  missions,  ne  servant  ^/i'*' 
nuire  a  la  traitte  ordinaire  des  voyageurs  et  a  ravancement  de  la 
Foy.  Depuis  (pi'elles  sont  venues  icy  haut,  nous  n'y  avons  plus 
veil  que  corruption  universtdle  qu'elles  ont  re[)andues  par  leur 
vie  scandaK'Use  dans  tons  les  esprits  de  ces  nations  qui  en  sont 
presentement  iutectees.  Tout  le  service  pretendu  (ju'on  veut 
taire  croire  au  Hoy  qu'elles  rendent  se  reduit  a  (juatre  princi- 
pales  occupations  dont  nous  vous  prions  instamment  de  vouioir 
bien  informer  le  Roy. 

La  [)remiere  est  de  tenir  un  cabaret  public  d'eau-de-vie  ou  ils 
la  trait  tent  continuellement  aux  Sauvag(!s  qui  ne  cessent  point 
de  s'enyvrer,  quclqucs  opositioiis  que  nous  y  puisslons  faire. 
C'est  en  vain  que  nous  leur  pai'lons  pour  les  arreter  ;  nous  n'y 
gagnons  rlen  que  d'etre  accusez  de  nous  oposer  nous-memes  au 
Service  du  Roy  en  voulant  empecher  une  traitte  qui  leur  est 
permise. 

La  seconde  occupation  des  soldats  est  d'estre  envoyez  d'un 
poste  ii  I'autre  })ar  les  Commandans,  pour  y  porter  leurs  mar- 
chandises  et  leur  eau-de-vie,  apres  s'etre  accommodes  ensemble, 
sans  que  les  uns  et  les  autres  ayent  d'autre  soin  que  celuy  de 
s'entr'ayder  mutui-llement  dans  leur  commerce,  et  atin  que  cela 
s'execute  plus  faeilement  des  deux  costez  comme  ils  le  souhait- 
vnt,  ils  faut  que  les  commandans  se  ferment  les  yeux  pour  user 
de  connivence  et  ne  voir  aucun  des  desordres  de  leur  soldats, 
(piehpies  visibles,  publics  et  scandaleux  (ju'ils  soient,  et  il  faut 
reciproquemeiit  que  les  soldats,  outre  ({u'lls  traittent  leurs 
proprcs  marchandises,  se  fassent  encore  les  traitteurs  de  celles 
de  leurs  Connnandans  qui  souvent  meme  les  obligent  d'en 
acheter  d'eux  |)Our  leur  permettre  d'aller  oil  ils  veulent. 

Leur  tro'  /leme  occupation  est  de  faire  de  leur  fort  un  lieu  que 
j'ay  honte  d'apeler  j)ar  son  nom,  oil  les  feinmes  ont  apris  que 
leurs  corps  pouvoient  tenir  lieu  de  marchandises  et  (pi'elles 
seroient  mieux  r(n;ues  (pie  le  castor,  de  sorte  que  c'est  presente- 


I 


:mmmfm^^''^^ 


430 


APPENDIX. 


si: 


ment  le  commerce  le  plus  ordinaire,  le  plus  contiiiuel  et  le  plus 
en  vogue.  Quelques  efforts  que  puissent  faire  tons  les  missioii- 
naires  pour  decrier  et  pour  I'abolir,  an  lieu  de  diminuer,  11  aui;- 
mente  et  se  multiplie  tons  les  jours  de  plus  en  plus ;  tous  les  sol- 
dats  tiennent  table  ouverte  k  touttes  les  femmes  de  leur  con- 
naissance  dans  leur  maison ;  depuis  le  matin  jusqu'au  soir,  elles 
y  passent  les  journees  entieres,  les  unes  apres  les  autres,  assises 
a  leur  feu  et  souvent  sur  leur  lit  dans  dcs  entretiens  etdes  actions 
propre  de  leur  commerce  qui  ne  s'acheve  ordiuairement  que  la 
nuit,  la  foule  etant  trop  grande  pendant  la  journee  pour  qu'ils 
puissent  I'achever,  quoyque  souvent  aussy  ils  s'entrelaissent  uuv. 
maison  vide  de  monde  pour  n'en  pas  diti'erer  I'achevement  jus- 
qu'a  la  nuit. 

La  quatrieme  occupation  des  soldats  est  celle  du  jeu  qui  a 
lieu  dans  les  t^ms  oil  les  traitteurs  se  rassemblent ;  il  y  va  quel- 
quefois  a  un  tel  point  que  n'etans  pas  contens  d'y  passer  le  jour, 
ils  y  passent  encore  la  nuit  entiere,  et  il  n'arrive  merae  que  trop 
souvent  dans  I'ardeur  de  I'aplication  qu'ils  ne  se  souviement  piis, 
ou  s'ils  s'en  souviennent,  qu'ils  meprisent  de  garder  les  posttvs. 
Mais  ce  ((ui  augmente  en  cela  leur  desord''e,  c'est  qu'un  attaclK;- 
ment  si  opiniatre  an  jeu  n'est  presque  jamais  sans  une  ivrognerie 
commune  a  tous  les  joueurs,  et  que  I'ivrognerie  est  presque  tou- 
jours  suivie  de  querelles  qui  s'excitent  entre  eux  lesquellcs 
venant  h  paroitre  publiquement  aux  yeux  des  Sauvages,  causent 
parmi  eux  trois  grands  scandales :  le  premier  de  les  voir  ivres,  lu 
second  de  les  voir  s'entrebatre  avec  fureur  k's  uns  contre  les 
autre*"  jusqu'a  prendre  des  fusils  en  main  pour  s'entretutr,  le 
troisieme  de  voir  que  les  Missionnaires  n'y  peuvent  apportcr 
aucun  remede. 

Voila,  Monseigneur,  les  quatre  seules  ocupations  d^s  gariii- 
sons  que  Ton  a  tenues  ici  pendant  tant  d'anuees.  Si  ces  sortcs 
d'ocupations  peuvent  s'ai)eler  le  service  du  Roy,  j'avoue  qu'cllo 
luy  ont  actuellement  et  toujours  rendu  quelqu'un  de  ces  i|uatre 
services,  mais  je  n'en  ai  point  veu  d'autres  que  ces  quatre-lii ;  ft 
par  consequent,  si  on  ne  juge  pas  que  ce  soit  la  des  services 
n^cessaires  au  Roy,  il  n'y  a  point  eu  jusqu'a  present  de  neces- 
sity de  les  tenir  icy,  et  apres  leur  rapel,  il  n'y  en  aura  point  de 
les  y  retablir. 

Cependant  comma  cette  n  'icessitc^  pretendue  des  Garnisons  est 


APPENDIX. 


431 


iiuel  et  le  plus 
)us  les  missiuii- 
iminuer,  il  aug- 
18  ;  tous  les  sol- 
;s  de  leur  con- 
ju'au  soir,  elles 
i  autres,  assises 
IS  et  (les  actions 
lirement  que  la 
rnee  pour  qu'ils 
ntrelaissent  uiu- 
achevemeut  jus- 

e  du  jeu  qui  a 
it ;  il  y  va  quel- 
y  passer  le  jour, 
!  ineme  que  trop 

souviement  pus, 
irder  les  postes. 
st  (pi'uu  attache- 
is  uue  ivrognerie 

est  presque  tou- 
1  eux  lesquellcs 
lauvages,  causeiit 

les  voir  ivres,  Ic 
s  uns  contre  les 
ir  s'entretutr,  le 
jeuvent  apportcr 

itions  d«?s  ganii- 
s.  Si  ces  sortcs 
r,  j'avoue  qu'clli- 
un  de  ces  (luatro 
ces  quatre-Hi ;  it 
t  la  des  services 
»reseut  de  n^ces- 
}u  aura  point  de 

des  Garnisons  est 


I'unique  pretexte  que  ron  prend  pour  y  envoyer  des  Com- 
mandans,  nous  vous  prions,  Monseigneur,  d'etre  bien  persuade 
de  la  fausset^  de  ce  pretexte,  afin  que,  sous  ces  specieuses  ai)ar- 
encea  du  service  du  Roy,  on  ne  se  fasse  pas  une  obligation  d'eu 
envoyer,  puisque  les  Commandans  ne  viennent  icy  que  pour  y 
faiie  la  traitte  de  concert  avec  leurs  soldats  sans  se  mettre  en 
peine  de  tout  le  reste.  lis  n'orit  de  liaison  avec  les  Mission- 
naires  que  par  les  endroits  oil  ils  les  croieut  utiles  pour  leur 
temporel,  et  hors  de  la  ils  leur  sont  contraires  des  qu'ils  veulent 
s'cpposer  au  desordre  qui,  ne  s'accordaut  ny  avec  le  service  de 
Dieu  ny  avec  le  service  du  Roy,  ne  laisse  pas  d'etre  avantageux 
a  leur  commerce,  au  quel  il  n'est  rien  qu'ils  ne  sacrifient.  C'est 
la  Tunique  cause  qui  a  mis  le  dereglement  dans  nos  Missions,  et 
qui  les  ca  tellement  desolees  par  I'ascendant  quo  les  Commandans 
ont  pris  sur  les  Missionnaires  en  s'attirant  toute  I'autorite  soit  a 
I'egard  des  Francois,  soit  a  I'egard  des  Sauvages,  que  nous 
n'avons  pas  d'autre  pouvoir  que  celui  d'y  travailler  inutilement 
sous  leur  domination  qui  s'est  elevee  jusqu'h  nous  pour  nous 
faire  des  crimes  civils  et  des  accusations  pretendues  juridiques 
des  propres  fonctions  de  notre  etat  et  de  notre  devoir,  comme  I'a 
toujours  fait  Monsieur  de  la  Motte  qui  ne  voulait  pas  meme  que 
nous  nous  servissions  du  mot  de  desordre  et  qui  iutente  en  eft'et 
procez  au  pere  I'inet  pour  s'en  etre  servi. 

....  Vous  voyez,  Monseigneur,  que  je  me  suis  beaucoup 
^tendu  sur  les  articles  des  Commandans  et  des  garnisons  pour  vous 
faire  comprendre  que  c'est  la  qu'est  venu  tout  le  malheur  de  nos 
Missions.  Ce  sont  les  Commandans,  ce  sont  les  garnisons,  qui, 
se  joignant  avec  les  traitteurs  d'eau-de-vie  les  ont  entierement 
desolees  par  I'ivrognerie  et  par  une  impudicite  presque  univer- 
selle  que  Ton  y  a  etablie  par  une  continuelle  impunite  de  I'une 
et  de  I'autre,  que  les  puissances  civiles  ne  tolerent  pas  seule- 
ment,  mais  qu'elles  permettent,  puisque  les  pouvant  empecher, 
elles  ne  l^s  empechent  pas.  Je  ne  crains  done  point  de  vous 
declarer  que  si  Ton  remet  icy  haut  dans  nos  missions  des  Com- 
mardans  traitteurs  et  des  garnisons  de  soldats  traitteurs,  nous  ne 
doutons  point  que  nous  ne  soyons  contraints  de  les  quitter,  n'y 
pouvant  rien  faire  pour  le  salut  des  ames.  C'est  a  vous  d'in- 
former  Sa  Majeste  de  Textremite  ou  Ton  nous  rdduit  et  de  luy 
demauder  pour  uous  notre  delivrance,  afiu  que  nous  puissions 


432 


APPENDIX. 


travail 'er  h  retablisscment  de  lu  Religion  sans  ces  euipechemens 
q  li  Font  arrete  jusqu'a  present. 


I. 


M-' 


«1 

a 


f- 


THE   GOTEllX^IENT  AND  THE   CLERGY. 

Me-moihk  d^:  Tai.ox  sun  l'Etat  rnfcsENT  DU  Canada,  1067. 
(Exlrait.)     Archives  de  la  Marine. 

.  .  .  L'Ei  '  KsiASTiQUK  est  compose  d'un  Evesque,  nyant 
le  tiltre  de  Petree,  In  partibus  infideliuni,  et  se  servant  du  caruc- 
tere  ct  de  I'autorite  de  Vicaire  Apostolique. 

II  a  soid)s  \_son&]  luy  ncuf  Prestre?*,  et  plusienrs  clorcs  qui 
vivent  en  conununaute  qua.id  lis  sont  pres  de  lu'  dans  son  Sciui- 
naire,  et  .separenient  a  la  canipagne  quand  ils  y  sont  envoyez  par 
voye  de  mission  pour  desscrvir  les  cures  qui  ne  sont  pas  encore 
fondc'cs.  II  y  a  parcillement  les  Peres  de  la  Compagnie  de 
Jesus,  au  nombre  de  trente-cinq,  la  pliispart  desquels  sont  em- 
ployez  aux  Missions  etrange res ;  ouvrage  digne  de  leur  zeU;  ct 
de  leur  piete  s'il  est  exempt  du  meslange  de  I'interest  dout  on 
les  dit  snsce[)tibles,  })ar  la  traitle  des  pellcteries  qu'on  assure 
qu'ils  font  aux  8ta8aks  [^OutauuKks^^  kit  au  Cap  de  la  Magde- 
laine ;  ce  que  je  ne  scay  pas  de  science  certaine. 

La  vie  de  ces  Ecclesiastiques,  pur  tout  ce  qui  paroist  au  de- 
hors, est  Ibrt  rcglce,  et  pent  servir  de  bon  excmple  et  d'un  hon 
mo<lele  aux  seculiers  qiu  la  peuvent  iuiiler;  mais  comme  ctuix 
qui  composent  cette  Colonic  ne  sont  pas  tons  d'esgale  i'oxrv,  ny 
de  \ertu  })areille,  on  n'ont  pas  tons  les  mesmes  dispositions  au 
bien,  (|uclques-uns  tombent  aysement  dans  leur  disgrace  i)onr  ne 
pas  se  confornier  a  leur  nianiere  de  vivre,  ne  j)as  suivre  tons 
leurs  sentinicns,  et  ne  s'abandonner  pas  a  leur  conduite  (ju'ils 
estendeut  jusques  sur  le  temporel,  empietant  mesme  sur  la  police 
exterieure  qui  regarde  le  seul  magistrat. 

On  a  lieu  de  soupconner  que  la  pratique  dans  hniuelle  ils 
sont,  (pii  n'est  pas  bien  conforme  a  celle  des  Ecclesiasticpies  do 


APPENDIX. 


433 


es  empechemens 


LERGY. 

Canada,  1067. 

e, 

Evesque,  nyant 
servant  «lii  caruc- 

isienrs  clorcs  qui 
r  dans  son  Souii- 

sont  envoyez  par 

sont  pas  encore 
la  Compagnie  de 
esquels  sont  eni- 
i  (le  leur  zelc  vX 

rinterest  dont  on 
ries  qu'on  a-^snre 

ip  de  la  Magde- 

qui  paroist  an  do- 
mple  et  d'un  lion 
lais  coninie  wax 
d'csgale  force,  ny 
s  dispositions  an 
disgrace  ponr  ne 
3  })as  snivre  tons 
jr  eondnite  (ju'ils 
sme  sur  la  police 

dans  la(pielle  ils 
^cielesiastiijnes  de 


TAnoienne  Franco,  a  pour  but  de  partager  I'autorite  temporelle 
qui,  JMsqnes  an  temps  de  I'arrivee  des  troupes  du  Hoy  en  Canada, 
resi<loit  principalenient  en  leur  personnes. 

A  ce  mal  qui  va  jusques  k  gehenner  [r/c/i^r]  et  contraindre 
les  consciences,  et  par  la  desgouter  les  colons  les  plus  attaehez 
au  pays,*()n  pent  donner  ponr  reniede  I'ordre  de  balancer  avec 
adresse  et  moderation  cette  autorite  par  celle  qui  resMe  ez  [^dans 
les^  personnes  envoyees  par  Sa  Majeste  pour  le  Gouvernement : 
ce  (pii  a  desja  ete  prati(iue ;  de  permettre  de  renvoyer  un  on 
deux  Kcdesiastiques  de  ceux  (pu  ivconnoissent  moins  cette  auto- 
rite  tenq)orelle,  et  (pii  troublent  le  plus  par  leur  eondnite  le  repos 
de  la  Colonie,  et  introduire  (piatre  Ecclesiastiques  entre  les  secu- 
liers  ou  les  regnliers,  les  faisant  bien  autoriser  })our  I'adtninistra- 
tion  des  Sacremens,  sans  ipi'ils  puisseat  estre  inquietez  :  autre- 
ment  ils  deviendroient  inutiles  au  pay^,  })iiT  j  "ue  s'ils  ne  se 
conformoient  pas  a  la  prati([ue  de  ceux  qui  y  so'  aujourd'huy 
M.  I'Kvesque  leur  detf'endroit  d'administrer  le.  Sacremens. 

Pour  estre  niieux  informe  de  cette  eondnite  des  consciences, 
on  pent  entendre  Monsieur  Dubois,  Auniosnic  r  au  regiment  de 
Carignan,  qui  a  ouy  plusicurs  Concessions  "i  secret,  et  a  la  des- 
robee,  et  Monsieur  de  liretonvilliers  sur  ce  (p;'il  a  appris  par  les 
Ecclesiasti(|ues  de  son  Senunaire  establi  a  Mont-Keal. 

Lettre  du  Ministre  a  Mr.  Talox,  20  Fevrier,  1668. 
(^Extrait.)     Archives  de  la  Marine. 

...  II  taut  que  Tapplication  d'un  Gouverneur  et  d'un  Inten- 
dant  aide  a  adoucir  le  mal,  et  non  a  I'effet  que  le  Gouverneur  ne 
se  porte  a  aucune  extremite,  centre  les  Sieurs  Eveque  et  les  P.  P. 
Jesuites,  (piand  bien  meme  ils  auraient  abuse  du  ponvoir  que 
leur  habit  et  le  respect  qu'on  a  naturellement  pour  la  religion 
leur  donne.  En  se  contentant  par  des  conferences  particnlieres 
de  resserrer  ce  pouvoir,  autant  que  se  pourra,  dans  les  bornes 
d'une  legitime  autorite  et  esperant  que,  quand  le  pays  sera  i)lus 
j)euple,  qui  est  la  seule  et  unique  chose  que  doit  convier  le  dit 
Sr.  Gouverneur  et  Intendant  a  y  donner  leurs  soins  quand  a  pre- 
sent, I'autorite  Royale  qui  sera  la  i)lus  reconnue  des  [jeuples  pru- 
vaudra  sur  I'autre  et  la  contiendra  dans  de  justes  limites. 

.  .  .  Je  ne  m'expliciue  point  avec  vous  sur  ce  sujet,  parceque 

28 


434 


APPENDIX. 


je  sais  qu'a  part  scs  ]»onno«  qualitds  il  [J/  de  Conrec^le']  a  us«3 
(Voniportcinciit  dont  i'  est  boii  (lu'il  se  corrifjo.  Iiisinuez  hii 
au?fji  lioimO'temcnt  Ics  sontimonts  qu'il  doit  avoir  vX  ce  quo  je 
viciis  do  voii.s  dire  an  sujot  dii  Sioiir  (Us  Rrssaii,  ot  qu'il  no  doit 
jamais  blanior  la  coiiduito  do  rKve(|Uo  <lo  I'ctroo  ni  dos  .losuitcs 
en  i>ublic,  etaiit  assoz  d'eu  user  avec  oux  avec  ijrando  t'ircoiis[)oc- 
tion,  so  ooMttnitaut  soulonvnt  lorsqu'ils  oiitrcproiidront  trop  do 
lour  fairo  oonnaitri;  ot  d'ou  ouvoyer  dcs  nionioirt'S,  atin  (pio  j<! 
contoro  avoo  lours  Supt'-riours  de  ces  entroprisos  et  en  cas  (pi'ils 
eii  fasseut  qu'on  puisse  les  iiuordiro. 


«»■' 


Si' 

im 

r 


Instul'ction  I'oru  M    di;  Boutkkoue,  10*58. 
(E.clrdil.)     Archives  de  la  Marine. 

II  faut  emposchor  autaut  qu'il  i^e  pourra  la  trop  grande  quaii- 
tite  dos  prostros,  rcligioux,  ot  ridigiousos  .  .  .  s'onti-ouiottr(! 
quolcpiotbis  ot  dans  los  ocoasions  [lOur  los  porter  a  adoucir  oolto 
trop  grande  sovorito,  ostant  tros-important  (juo  losdits  evoscpu'  ot 
Josuitos  no  s'aporcoivent  jamais  qu  il  vouille  blasmor  bur  cuu- 
duite. 


Siiinc 


COLBKUT. 


For  tho  instructions  on  this  subject,  more  precise  and  vm- 
pliatio  than  tho  above,  givon  by  the  king  to  Talon  in  IGli.J,  soe 
N.  Y.  Colonial  Does.,  IX.  24. 


LeTTUE    de    CoLItERT    A    DlJCHESNEAU,    15   AtUIL,    1070. 

(^E. ft  rait.)     Arc/lives  de  la  ^[arlne. 

Eviter  his  contostations  .  .  .  sans  toutotbis  pnjU(h('ior  :iiix 
precautions  qui  sont  a  pi'ondre  et  aux  mosuros  a  gardor  [xmr 
otn|>oschor  quo  la  puissance  ecclosiastiiiuo  n'o'ntroproniu'  rion  sur 
la  t(.'mporflIo,  a  quoy  los  ocolosiasti({Uos  sout  assoz  })ortos. 

Lettre  du  Ministrk  a  Duchesneau,  le  28  AvuiL,  1G77. 
(Extralt.)     Archives  de  la  Marine. 

.  .  .  Je  vous  dirai  i)romioromont  (pie  Sa  Majosto  est  bion 
persuadee  de  la  pieto  de  tons  les  EcclosiastiquoiS  et  do  leurs  bonnes 


APPENDIX. 


435 


intentions  pour  lo  siuccz  du  Kujct  do  lours  missions,  mtiis  Sa 
IMajosfo  vent  (jiic  vous  pronic/  <r!ir(l(^  (pi'ils  n'ontropronncnt  rion 
taut  sur  sou  authoritr  Uoyallc!  epic  sur  la  jiislioc  et  police  du 
pnys  ct  ([\u\  vous  les  rcsscrrioz  preciscnioiit  dans  Ics  Itornes  do 
rautlioritc'  <[uo  les  Koclosiasticpios  out  dans  lo  H(»yauuio,  sans 
sonllVir  (pi'lls  l(;s  passcut  on  (piclquo  sorto  ot  manioro  que  oe 
soit,  ot  octto  maxinio  ijonorallo  vous  doit  sorvir  pour  toutcs  les 
dilHcultoz  do  cctto  natiirti  (pii  j)ourront  survonir ;  mais  pour 
])arv('uir  a  ce  point  il  scroit  noccssaire  (pu;  vous-iuesme  vous  tra- 
vailliassit'z  a  vous  rondro  liabil  sur  ocs  niatioros  eu  lisant  les 
autlieurs  (pii  en  out  traitte,  observer  tout  co  qui  se  passe  et  a  en- 
voyer  tous  les  ans  des  uienioires  sur  les  diiru-nltez  (pie  vous  aurez 
et  auxquelles  vous  n'aurez  pas  pu  reuiedier ;  considerez  cette 
uijitiere  eouime  tres  iniportaute  et  a  hupielle  vous  ue  S(;auriez 
donncr  trop  d'a]»plication. 


Lettrk  du  Minisxhe  a  Duchksnkau,  m:  i>ui;mii:u  Max,  1077. 
(Extntit.)     Archives  de  la  Marine. 

.  .  .  -le  suis  encorii  oblii^e  do  vous  dire  que  Ton  voit  claire- 
ment  qu'eiu'ore  quo  le  dit  Sicur  Evesijuo  soit  uu  honnne  de  bien 
et  ([uMl  fasso  fort  bien  son  devoir,  il  ne  laissc  pas  d'atfeeter  une 
domination  qui  passe  do  beaucoup  au  dcla  des  bornes  que  los 
Kves(pu?s  out  dans  tout  lo  mondo  chrostion  et  particulioi'enient 
dans  lo  Royaume  et  ainsy  vous  devez  vous  api)li(pu3r  a  bien  eon- 
noistre  et  a  S(;av()ir  le  plus  parfaitoment  quo  vous  pourrez  I'es- 
tendnc  du  pouvoir  dos  Eves(pies  et  les  rcmedes  (pie  rautliorite 
Royalle  a  apj)ort('  pour  en  einpesclior  Tajjus  ot  Icur  trop  graude 
domination,  atin  (pu;  vous  puissiez  do  concert  avec  iMonsieur  le 
Comte  de  Fronteuac  dans  les  occasions  iinportantes  y  a|)porter  les 
niesmes  iv  lucdes,  en  quoy  vous  devez  toujours  agir  avec  beaucoup 
de  moderation  et  de  rtitenuo.  .  .  .  Comnie  jo  vois  (pie  Monsieur 
rEvcs(pie  de  Quebec,  ainsi  que  je  viens  de  vous  dire  tiftocte  une 
antliorit('  un  pen  trop  iiub'-pendante  de  rautlioritt'  Royalltj  ct  cpie 
par  cette  raison  il  seroit  peut-estre  bon  qu'il  n'cust  pas  de  seance 
dans  le  conseil,  vous  devez  bieu  examiner  toutcs  les  occasions 
et  tous  les  moyeiis  (pie  Ton  pourrait  prati(pier,  [)our  luy  donner 
k  luy-mesme  reiivie  de  n'y  plus  veuir ;  mais  vous  devez  en  cela 


43G 


APPKNDIX. 


vous  condiiirc  avoc  beauroup  dti  rotoiiue,  et  h'wn  prciidie  tjardo 
que  qui  ce  soil  ne  (k'scouvie  ce  que  jo  vous  escris  sur  ce  poiut. 


Mkmuiue  dv  Koi  aux  SiE'ms  de  I'iiontknao  et  di:  CiiAMi'iuNr, 

Annke  h)\)± 

(Extrait.)     Archives  de  la  Marine. 

.  .  .  Sa  ]M:ijeste  veut  aussy  qu'ils  \_Frontenac  et  Ch<tmj)ifffti/'] 
assistant  de  Icur  autliorite  les  .Icsuitcs  et  les  Ri-eolets  et  tuns 
autres  Eeclesiasticiues  sans  neantnioins  SDntlVii'  qu'ils  portent 
Tanlorite  ecelesiastiqne  jdns  loin  (lu'cllc  ne  doit  s'estendre.  Kile 
ne  veut  pas  qu'ils  se  disj)ensent  de  t'aire  doneement  et  avec  toute 
la  <liscretion  possible  des  remonstrances  au  dit  Sieur  Kvesipio 
dans  les  occasions  oil  ils  rcconnoistront  (jue  les  Ecclcsiastiipics 
agis?ent  par  un  zele  iunnodere  on  par  d'antres  passions,  alin  do 
l'en<]:;t«r(.r  k  y  reniedier  et  a  faire  tout  ce  <jni  depend  avec  lui 
pour  procurer  le  repos  des  consciences.  Les  dits  Sieurs  de  Fron- 
tenac  et  de  Chanipi^ny  doivent  se  tenir  en  cela  dans  les  voves 
de  la  seule  excitation  et  informer  sa  Majeste  de  tout  ce  qui  se 
passera  a  cet  ej^^ard. 


tat 


K5. 


f 


Ik 


ll 


Lettre  de  MoNsiEun  de  la  Motue  Cadillac. 

{Extrail.)     Archives  de  la  Marine. 

28  Sei'Temhke,  ltj'c)4. 
....  La  chose  ne  se  passa  pas  ainsi  qu'il  Va  raconte  dans  cet 
article  et  le  suivant;  ceux  <jui  savent  I'histoire  de  ce  temps  lii  en 
j)arlent  antrement  et  voicy  le  fait :  Monsieur  de  Laval  fit 
diverses  tentatives  ii  pen  pres  conuue  c(;lles  (fon  voi<l  aujourd'luiy 
dont  le  but  a  toujours  etc  de  i)reN'al(Hr  sur  I'autorite  du  ;^onverne- 
ment ;  jNIonsieui-  de  Tiacy  pour  lors  Vice-roy  de  ce  {)ays,  voyait 
traiKjuillement  le  desir  de  cette  elevation,  et  couime  c'estoit  un 
liomme  devot,  il  ne  jngea  pas  a  propos  de  preter  le  colet  a  cette 
cohorte  Ecclesiasti(pie,  dont  la  puissance  etoit  redoutable. 
Monsieur  Talon  dans  cette  conjoncture  fit  paroitre  une  plus 
forte  resolution  et  risqua  pour  I'interest  du  Hoy  de  perdre  son 
credit  et  sa  fortune  ;  il  vid  qu'il  ialloit  etouHer  cet  oraire  dans  son 
berceau  et  cnfin   par   ses  rcmontrances  et   par  ses  soins,  il  fit 


AITKNDIX. 


437 


I  prt'iidro  garde 
i  sill"  ce  point. 

Di;    (^IIAMIMUNY, 


•  (>f  C/i(ftnj)if/ni/] 

ll(''(U»k'tS    Ct    tolH 

[•  «iu'il.s  poitciit 
Vstuiulre.  Kile 
lilt  ot  avec  to  lite 
;  Sieiir  Kvescjue 
i  Eo('lc'si!isti(|ues 
passions,  aliu  do 
depend  avec  lui 
Sieurs  do  Fron- 
k  dans  les  voves 
hi  tout  ce  qui  se 


ILLAC. 

Ski'temhuk,  ltJ'J4. 
aconte  <lans  cet 

ee  temps  la  en 

ir    do   Laval    (it 

oi<l  aujourd'huy 

te  du  jxouverne- 

CO  pays,  voyait 
nnie  c'estoit  un 

le  colet  a  cette 
oit  redoutaUle. 
loitre   une   jdns 

do  pju'dre  son 
t  orage  dans  son 

ses  soins,  11  fit 


donner  un  ariAt  favorahK;  et  tel  (pi'il  s(^  IVtoit  proposi'.  INIou- 
sieur  d(!  Laval  voyant  alors  (pi'on  Tavoit  rengaine  vi  (ju'on 
I'avoit  coupe  a  denii-vent,  il  creut  snivant  la  polili(|U(i  do  I'lvdise 
(pi'il  falloit  attendre  un  temps  plus  t'avorahlo  ;  ayant  done  mis 
ai'ines  has,  on  tarlia  de  rajusfcr  les  atfaircs  par  I'entreniise  mem*! 
d(^  Monsieur  do  Tracy  qui  obtiut  de  Monsieur  Talon  au  jour  de 
sa  reconciliation  (pie  I'arrct  en  (piestion  seroit  rave  et  batonne, 
lion  pas  pour  le  dt''saprouver  ou  [)our  I'avoir  trouvc  contraire  ji 
toute  honiH!  justic*',  commc  le  veut  per-iiader  le  jnocureur 
general  ;  mais  afiii  (pu!  Monsie-ur  de  Laval  no  tut  pas  reprochahlo 
de  ses  ecarts  et  de  ses  injustes  pretentions;  ce  f'ut  une  tbiWlesse  a 
Monsieur  'J'alon  de  s'rtre  laisse  vainerc  j»ar  de  telles  soumis- 
sions. 

....  II  f'aut  etr(!  ici  pour  voir  les  nuMiees  (pn  so  font  tons  les 
jours  pour  renverser  \o,  plan  et  les  projets  d'un  (Jouverneur.  II 
faut  niK'  tete  aussi  lerme  et  aussi  plomlKH!  (pie  celle  dc;  ^lonsieur 
le  C()mte  [lour  se  soutenir  contres  les  amhusehes  (pie  })artout  on 
lui  dresse ;  s'il  veut  la  paix  cela  suilit  pour  (pi'on  s'y  opi)oso  et 
([u'on  crie  (pie  tout  est  perdu;  s'il  veut  taire  la  guerre,  on  lui  ex- 
pose la  mine  de  la  collonie.  II  n'auroit  pas  taut  d'atlaires  sur 
les  bras,  s'il  n'uvoit  pas  aboli  un  Iliericlio  (pii  etait  une  maison 
(pie  M(ssieurs  du  S<'ininaire  de  Montreal  avoient  fait  batir  |)our 
renfermer,  disoieiit-ils,  les  tilles  de  mauvaise  vie.  S'il  avoit  voulu 
leur  permettre  de  prendre  dos  soldats  et  leur  donner  des  oHici(;rs 
pour  aller  dans  les  maisonsarraelior  des  femines  a  miiiuit  et  cou- 
cliees  avec  leurs  maris,  pour  avoir  ete  au  bal  ou  en  mascpie  et  les 
fairo  fesser  jus(pie8  an  sang  dans  ce  Iliericho  ;  s'il  n'avait  rien  dit 
encore  contre  des  Cures  (pii  faisoient  la  rondo  avec  des  soldats 
ct  (pii  ()blig(M)ient  en  est(>  les  lilies  et  les  feinmes  a  so  renfiu'mer 
ji  neuf  lieures  cbez  elles,  s'il  avoit  voulu  d(ifU'ndre  do  porter  de 
la  dentelle,  s'il  n'avoit  rien  dit  sur  ce  (pi'on  refusoit  la  coinnumiou 
il  de-;  femines  de  (pialit('  pour  avoir  une  fontange,  s'il  ne  s'o})})0- 
soit  |*^)int  encore  aiix  excommunications  (pi'on  jette  a  tort  et  h 
ti'av(!rs.  aux  scandalcs  qui  s'en  suivent,  s'il  ne  faisoit  les  otiiciers 
(jiie  par  la  voye  des  communautes,  s'il  vouloit  deti'endre  le  viii  et 
I'eau  de  vie  aux  saiivages,  s'i)  ne  disoit  mot  sur  le  siijet  des  cures 
fixes  et  droits  de  patronage,  si  Monsieur  le  Comte  estoit  de  ce' 
avis-la,  ce  seroit  assuivment  un  liomme  sans  pared  et  il  seroic 
bientot  sur  la  liste  des  plus  grands  saints,  car  on  les  canouisy 
dans  ce  pais  a  bon  marche. 


iSS 


APPENDIX. 


J. 


m 
m 


CANADIAN  CURES.     EDUCATION.     DISCIPLINE. 

Lettke  i)U  Mauquis  1)K  Dknonvilij;  au  Ministre. 

(  ExtraU.)     Archives  de  la  Marine. 

A    QlJEIJKC    ]•')    N'OVKMHHK,    1085. 

....  Vors  me  pt'iuiettroz,  INIoiisciijtU'ur.  dc  vous  dciiuuuler 
la  grace  de  iaiie  (luclques  ivtlcctioii-s  sur  les  nioyens  d'oceupiT  J;i 
j(nim--se  du  pays,  dans  son  has  age,  et  dans  I'age  le  plus  avaiice, 
que  je  vous  ixnde  eonipte  dt;  nies  pensees  la  dessus,  }»uis(pie  c'e.st 
une  des  ciioses  la  plus  essentielle  de  la  colonie. 

Pour  y  |)ar\ouir,  MouseigUfur,  le  premier  moyen  a  mou  gre, 
est  d<'  uudti[)lier  le  uombre  des  Cures,  et  de  les  rendre  plus  lixes 
et  rcsidtMitaires,  Mr.  notn;  Kvecpu'  en  est  si  eonvaincu  pur  la 
ennuaissanee  (ju'll  a  i)rise  de  son  dioeese  dans  ses  visites,  ci  dans 
le  voyage  (juc  nous  avons  fait  ensend)le,  (pi'il  n'a  jK)int  de  plus 
grand  rnipressemoit  (pic  de  pouvoir  contrihuer  a  eet  etaltlisse- 
iiMMit  (|ui  serait  un  moyen  sur.  jiour  faire  des  eeoles,  auxipu'lies 
les  cures  s*occuj)craient  et  ainsi  acconiumcraicnt  les  I'litans  de 
boimc  lien  re  a  s'assugi'tir  et  :i  s'occujx-r  :  Mais.  Monseigneur, 
pour  faire  cct  (■tahlisseinent  utilemcnt,  il  faudrait  nudliplier  le 
nomUre  des  «'ur('s  jus(pies  au  nond)rc  do  ("incjuantc  et  un.  Le 
nu'moir*  (|ue  je  vous  en  envoye,  vous  fera  asse/  hien  Noir,  que  si 
on  les  ('tend  davantage  et  (pi'il  faille  (pie  les  cures  passent  et  re- 
j)assent  la  riviere,  connn(^  ils  font  a  prt'sent  pour  faire  lours  fono 
tions.  ils  emjiloyent  avec  bien  du  travail  tout  le  tcnq>s  tpi'ils 
l)Ourraient  donncr  a  instruire  la  jeuness(;,  si  leurs  cures  <'taient 
moins  ('lendues,  ()utre  cela,  Monseigneur,  ji  rentr(''e  et  ;i  la 
sortie  de  riii.cr.  il  y  a  pres  de  deux  mois  (jue  Von  ne  .s.iuiait 
passei"  la  ri\  iere.  (jui  en  bien  des  endroits  a  une  li(au'  de  largcur, 
ct  beauconp  |)bi>  en  d'autres.  Si  bien  (jue  dans  ces  tenq>s  il 
faut  <jue  les  nialades  deineureut  sans  aucun  stscours  Hpiritiiel. 

C'est  une  pit  it'.  Monseigiuair,  (|ue  (U;  voir  Tignorance  dans 
laquelle  les  peuples  ('loigni'.s  (III  st'jour  des  Cur('S  viveiU.  en  cu 
pays,  ct  les  pcincs  (jne  les  missionnaires  ct  Cui"(''s  so  :lonncnt 
pour  y  rcuK'dicr  en  paicourant  leurs  cures,  sur  le  pied  (lu'elles 
sont  scion  le  nn'inoirc   iiue  je  vous  en  envoye.      N'ous  y  verrc/, 


APPENDIX. 


439 


ISCIPLIXE. 

MiNISTKK. 


XOVEMIJHK,    11)8'). 

'  voiis  dcmiuuler 
'ens  d'ocouptT  l:i 
3  le  [>lus  avunce, 
ills,  puisque  c'est 

oycn  11  luon  i^re, 
reiidrc  i>lus  lixes 
;oiivuiiK'U  par  la 
's  visitos,  ci  dans 
I'a  point  dc  plus 
r  ii  cut  L'laldisse- 
H'oles,  aux(nudle3 
'lit  li'S  I'ut'aiis  de 
s.  M(»iis('ii;iieiu', 
it  multiplier  lo 
intc  ft  nil.      Lo 
(it'll  voir,  (|Ui'  si 
s  passciit  »'t   re- 
I'airt;  lours  t'oue- 
le   teini>s   (pi'lls 
rs  cures  I'tait'iit, 
't'litive   et  ;i  la 
Ton  lie  saiirait 
iciit'  de  larneur, 
us  cos  teiui>s   il 
lis  spiritiud. 
iifiiorauoe  dans 
I'S  viveiit  on  I'o 
ii't's   so   doniu'iit 
le   pied    ([U'elles 
\'uu>  )   vorivz, 


Monseigncur,  le  cliomin  qn'il  lour  faut  faire  pour  visiter  leur 
paroisses  dans  les  rigueurs  de  I'liiver. 

Piiis(iue  j'ai  oiitaino  I'atfaire  des  Cures  vous  me  permettrez 
d'acliovor  de  vous  dire  (jue  pour  la  subsistauce  d'uii  cure  seloii  los 
coniiaissances  (jue  j'ai  pu  prendre  du  pays,  depuis  que  j'y  suis, 
selou  le  prix  des  deiirees,  on  ne  saurait  donner  moins  a  un  cure 
pour  sa  subsistaiico  (jue  (piatre  cents  livres,  monoye  de  France, 
attendu  (pi'il  no  taut  pas  compter  sur  aucuu  revenant  bou  du 
dedans  de  I'Kglise.  II  est  bieii  vrai  <|u'il  y  a  quel([Uos  cures  qui 
soiit  mioux  peu|»Ioos  dont  los  dismes  sont  assez  raisonables  pour 
j)ouvoir  sutlir  a  leur  eiitretioii,  mais  il  y  en  a  trespeu  sur  ce  pied 
la. 

J'ai  trouve  ici  dans  le  Sominaire  de  rKvoche,  le  commence- 
ment de  doux  etdblissemonts  (pii  seraiont  a<lmirables  pour  la 
Colonic,  si  on  les  pouvait  augmenter,  ce  sont,  Monsoignour,  deux 
maisons  oil  Ton  retire  des  ent'ans  })our  los  instruire,  dans  Tune  on 
y  met  oeux  aux([uels  on  trouve  do  la  disposition  pour  les  lettres, 
aux(piollos  on  s'attaclie  de  les  former  pour  rEglise,  qui  dans  la 
suite  pouvent  rendre  i)lus  de  service  (pie  les  pretros  Franyais 
etants  plus  I'aits  que  les  autres  aux  fatigues  et  aux  manieres  du 
jiays. 

Dans  I'autrc  maison  on  y  met  ceux  qui  ne  sont  propres  que 
pour  etr(i  artisans,  ct  a  oeux  lii  on  ai)prends  des  metiers.  Je 
croirais  (jue  ce  serait  la  un  moyon  admirable  pour  commencer  un 
etablissement  de  maiiufaotures,  qui  sont  ausulumont  necessaires 
pour  le  secours  de  ce  pays. 

Mr.  notre  Kvetjue  est  clianne  do  ces  etablissomonts,  et  vou- 
drait  bieii  otro  on  etat  do  los  soiitoiiir  ot  augnientor.  ^[ais 
coinmo  tout  cola  ne  se  pout  fiiro  sans  de[)ense  taut  pour  I'aug- 
mentation  du  nombre  des  Cures  (pie  jKiur  cette  espece  do  manu- 
facture, ot  ((u'il  conviondraitd'oii  faire  do  grandos,  pour  y  reussir, 
je  lU!  vols  (prun  moyen  assure  |)our  cola,  ({iii  serait  (pie  le  Roy 
V(»ulut  bieii  donner  une  grosse  abltayo  a  JNIr.  notre  Evetpie  sans 
Tattaolier  a  rKvoclic''.  comnie  il  n'a  I'osprit  ot  le  coiur  occupos  que 
des  soiiis  do  faire  du  bion  aux  pauvros  ot  augmontor  la  foi  et  le 
saint  dos  Ames,  il  est  c<>rtain  (pie  Sa  Majosto,  aiirait  le  plaisir  de 
voir  emplovor  lo  rovoiiu  do  oe  bc'-iu'lice  en  bonnes  et  salutes 
o'uvros.  (pii  foraiont  morvoille  pour  le  bion  de  la  colonic  sou  sou- 
tien  et  son  augmentation. 


440 


APPENDIX. 


»f 


Si 

i,; 
ii;. 
»: 


^ 


J'ai  trouve  a  Yilleraarie  on  I'isle  de  JMonireal,  un  etablisse- 
meiit  de  sanirs  de  la  congregation,  sous  la  conduite  de  la  soeur 
Boui'ijeois,  ijui  fait  de  grands  l)i(Mis  a  toute  la  colonie,  (dies 
furent  l)rulees  I'au  passe  ou  elles  perdirent  tout;  il  seroit  fort 
iiecessaire  qu'elles  se  retablissent,  elles  n'ont  pas  le  |)r('uiii'r  sol, 
j'y  ai  trouve  un  autre  eiablissenientde  lilies  de  la  providence  <|ui 
travaillent  ensemble,  elles  pourront  connnencer  qncbim^  nianfuc- 
ture  de  ce  cote  la,  si  vous  avez  la  bontc  de  eontinuer  la  gratifi- 
cation de  mil  livres  j)our  les  laines,  et  mil  livres  i)()ur  apj)rendre 
a  tricoter.  II  y  a  encore  un  troisieme  etablissemeut  jxiur  faire 
des  maitres  d'ecoles. 

II  faut  revenir  s'il  vous  })lait,  INIonseigneur,  a  voir  c(^  <|iii  se 
pent  faire  pour  dissipliner  les  grands  gar(;ons,  et  pour  donner  de 
I'occupation  aux  enfaus  des  gentilshonunes  et  autres  soi-disans  et 
vivans  connne  tels. 

Avant  tout.  jNIonseigneur,  vous  me  permettrez  de  vous  dire 
que  la  noblesse  de  ce  pays  nouveau,  est  tout  ee  (pi'il  y  a  de  jtius 
gneux  et  (jue  d'en  augmenter  le  noml)reest  augmenter  le  nond)re 
des  faineants.  I  ii  l>:iys  neuf  demande  des  gens  lal)orieux  et  in- 
dusti'ieux,  et  (pii  mettent  la  main  a  la  hache  et  u  la  pioche.  Les 
enfaus  de  nos  eonseillers  ne  sont  pas  plus  laborieux,  et  n'ont  de 
ressource  «pie  les  bois,  oil  ils  font  (piehpie  traite,  et  la  iiiupart, 
font  tons  les  desordres  dont  j'ai  eu  I'lionneur  de  vous  entreit  ir, 
je  ne  m'oublierai  en  rien  de  ce  (pi'il  y  aurait  a  faire  poi  les 
engager  a  entrer  dans  le  conuneree,  niais  connne  nos  noblv  s  et 
eonseillers  sont  tons  fort  |)auvres  et  accables  de  debles.  ils  ne 
sauraient  trouver  de  credit  ponr  un  ecu. 

Le  seul  moyen  (jni  me  ])arait  le  plus  assure  jxHir  discipliner 
celte  jeunesse  serait  (pie  le  l\oy  vonliit  bien  entrelenir  en  ce 
pays.  (pie|(|ues  compagnies,  dont  on  doniierait  le  commandeineiit 
a  gens  (rautliorit('*  et  de  bonnes  imrurs  et  applitpu's,  comme  a 
Mr.  le  Chevalier  de  C'ailliere,  a  l\Ir.  de  Vaivne^,  Gouverneur 
des  irois  Rivi(jres,  ou  an  Sr.  I'n'-vot,  Major  de  (^uel)ec,  avec  des 
Lieuteinmts  du  i)ays  (pie  Ton  clioisirait.  les(piels  ne  devraieiit 
point  avoir  peine  d'obeir,  it  ceux  auxquels  naturellement  ils 
doiveiit  obeir. 


il,  im  etablisse- 
lite  de  la  8(eur 
a  coloni«^  elles 
t ;  il  seroit  I'ort 

le  prcuiicr  sol, 
L  })r(^vi(lt!n('e  qui 
[m'l(|im  niaiitUc- 
inuer  la  ijiatifi- 

j)()ur  ap]»ivn(lre 
ment  pour  faire 

1  voir  CO  (jui  se 
pour  (lonncr  (It; 
tres  soi-disausi  et 

I'z  de  vous  dire 

(pril  y  a  lie  |)lus 

leiiter  le  nouibre 

laborieux  et  iu- 

la  pioche.     Les 

ieux,  et  n'out  de 

e,  et  la  })lupart 

vous  cutret*  'ir, 

I  t'aire  por     les 

>  uos  noliK  s  et 

e  debtes,  ils  ue 

IjXfUr  dis(M|iliuor 

itrclcnir   en   oe 

IcouunaudtMueiit 

jitjUi's,  couuuc  a 

le^,  Gouvenu'ur 

ucbcc,  avcc  <U'S 

U   lie  dcvraieiit 

turellenieiit  ila 


INDEX. 


A. 

A.bsoliitism  in  Canada,  394,  395. 

Acadia.  Talon  atti>ni])ts  to  open  com- 
inmiicatidii  witli,  213. 

Apiriata,  a  Mohawk  ciiief,  execution 
of,  1!»2. 

A,i,n-icultiire,  unprosperous  state  of, 
'290,  297. 

Aillebout,  governor  of  Quebec,  seizes 
Iro(|U(>is  liosta^'cs,  3*1;  "insanely 
pious,"  107. 

Ailielxiut,  .Madanu",  50  ;  singular  meth- 
od of  self-discipline,  .'(")(). 

All>ancl,  a  Jesuit,  clia])Iain  at  Fort 
Chanilply,  190;  penetrated  to  Hud- 
son's May,  213. 

Allet,  a  Sulpitian  priest,  his  memoir, 
40  iKife. 

Andara(|U(S  a  Mohawk  fort,  captured 
i»y  the  French,  19t;. 

Annahotaha,  a  Huron  chief,  74. 

Aontarisati,  a  Mohawk  chief,  execu- 
tion of,  5. 

Argens<ii).  \'icomte  d",  a]>i)"iuted  gov- 
ernorof  Canada,  O.j;  views  on  relig- 
ion, »!."),  (il> ;  his  cliaracter,  107  ;  quar- 
rels with  Laval,  107-1.14;  assuuies 
goveniorsiiiit,  Il'i:  his  trouldes,  ll(i- 
120:  is  re.Mlled,  120. 
Altonu'y-(ieuer;il,  the,  duties  of,  2(18. 
Auteuil,  Uiiette  d',  member  of  Laval's 

council,  130. 
Avauguur,  Dubois  de,  Maron,  governor 
of  (anaiia,    120:   his  policy.  121  ;  is 
recalled,  I2:»;  nieuiorial   to  Colbert, 
i29;  his  death,  130. 


B. 

Bagot,  a    Jesuit,  tutor  of   Laval,  88; 

founder  of  religious  fraternity,  90. 
Ball,  the  lir-t,  in  Canada,  347.' 
Hardy,     Lather,    his    -ernion    against 

Courctdle  and  Talon,  333. 
Haston,  u  luerchaul  of  UochelJe,  372. 


Beauport,   seigniory    of    Dr.   GilTard, 

238. 
Beaupre,  Laval's  seigniory,  237;  most 

orderly  settlement,  374.' 
Beaver-skins,   trade   in,  5  note,  303- 

310. 
Bechefer    Jesuit  envoy  to  Mohawks. 

191. 
Beggars,  multitude  of,  in  Canada,  379  ; 

measures  to  suppress  meiulicity,  380. 
Bt^goii,  iutemlaut,  rcjiort  of,  298.' 
Bcletre,  a  peace-maker,  372. 
Bemicres,  founder  of  The  Hermitage, 

89. 
Beriion,  a   Huguenot   merchant,  case 

oL  291,  292.  ' 
Bert  helot,  a  prosperous    settler,    202 

tmte. 
Bienville,  a  i/thtilhomme  rover,  201. 
Bochart,  Dii'  Plessis,  death  of,  2. 
Bochart,    Marie,    married    at    twelve 

years,  227  note. 
Boisdon,  .lean,  innkeeper,  provisions  of 

his  license,  382. 
I?oston.  the  Lnglish  of,  take  possession 

of  -AcailiaM  lisheries,  294,  29,")  note. 
Boucher,  .>ragdelviue.  her  dowry,  381. 

3S2. 
}5ouclier.  Pierre,  delegate  from  Canada 

to  Lrance,  131;  his  l)ook,   131  note, 

221    nnle. 
Bougainville  cited,  305  ;  opinion  of  the 

/oihi/aiit,  389. 
Bonllt',  farmer  of  Dr.  (JitYard,  240. 
Bourdon,     .lean,    altoruey-geiieral    of 

Canada,   130:  his  s|>ecidations,  138 ; 

banished  bv  Mczy,  l.")5. 
Bon rdon,M;idame, her  weighty  charges, 

223. 
Bourgeoys,    IMargucrite,     blunder     of 

.scIk.oI  at  .Montreal,  returns  to  Can- 
ada, 41.  42;  kei  ps  school  in  a  stable, 

43;  suMerintci.ds  marriages,  224. 
Brainly,  Indian  biudiiess  bir,  121,  122; 

ils  use  and  ctYects,  323;  essential  to 

fur  trade,  321 ;  penalties  bir  selling, 

325  and  note;  <iuestion.s  of  aule  re- 


Mnuani  ii^wwpiwwpw 


442 


INDEX. 


r 

i;, 

i 


fcrjTd  (o  Doctors  of  Sovhonnc  and 

clili'f  iK'ople  of  Caiiiida,  -Vli). 
Bn'r,n,  I-'atlicr,  siTinoii  on  C'luiivli  and 

bii.fe,  !()(;. 
Urt'liciif,    I'atlir,   miraculous   ollicaiv 

of  ills  l)oiif>,  180. 
Brt'da.  tri'aiy  of.  sccnri'd  pfacc  between 

Knuiisli  and  KhmuIi  culonies,  l;(!l. 
Bresoles,   a   nun   of    >i>terli(>o(i   of  St. 

dosepli,  4(j :  iiietv  and  culinary  skill, 

51.  '  .  . 

Urijieac,  Claude  de,  tortured  to  death 

liv  Iniciuni-.,  .')7.  ,")S. 
Bullion,  .\ladanie  de,    "the  unknown 

iii'nefai'tress,"  \T). 
IJusy  season,  the   '6S'o. 

0. 

Canada,  condition  of.  in  101)0-1001,0;!, 
0-4;  domestic  (ju  Is  in,  A-\,  S4 :  in 
?tate  of  tran.-ition,  lOO.  1()7;  ,i.;overn- 
nuMif  vested  in  eomicil  of  nine,  135; 
tlawn  of  a  hctter  day.  179. 

Canadians,  pride  and  sloth,  chief  faults 
of.  :i."i7.  iJoS  :  physical  ehara<'teristics 
of.  •'(78  ;  routlictinu-  estimates  of,  ;)SS. 

Carh.il.  a  .Jesuit  priest,  cited.  -Wh,  -WV- 
•Vl'l ;  letter  of,  touchin<r  niis^ioiis, 
427-4;i2. 

Cariirnan-Salieres,  first  rcijimeiit  of 
re;;ular  troops  sent  to  Am<'rica  I.v 
French  LCiivcrmneiit.  181  :  iis  liisterv, 
181,  182  and  imli  ;  its  memlicrs  ■-  '" - 
charjxed  and  made  colonists,  21.S. 

Carioii,  a  lieutenant,  assaults  a  brother 
oHicer.  U71.  .'172. 

Ca-irrain.  Aiibt'.  .•ited.  2IJ4  itotr. 

Cataloijiie.  rejiort  of.  on  condition  of 
(.'anada,  254  »...'<' ;  report  of,  •.>  i",  : 
ini'innirt  of,  42^-427. 

Catholics   in    France,   t^in'ties   ai  ■  ,, 
05. 

C<n.<itii'n-i\  tenant  of  land  in  C( n-iivc, 
24!t:  ri-hts  of.  250-2.")2. 

C< //>■/')•(■.  ( //.  a  kind  of  tenure,  249. 

Chiilons.  Sieur  de.  liiverin's  jmrtner, 
211-'! ;  joint  ;h(7«o//v  of.  42;{. 

Chanipijuny,  intendant,  letter  of,  257; 
referred  to,  ;{70. 

(  hampiain.liis  stron.LT  missionarv  siiirit. 
1117.  .     1       ' 

Chaiacter,  Canadian,  formatiini  of. 
.•J!»4. 

(?iiarlevoix.  Father,  statement  of.  12;i; 
ri  fereni'e  to  mines,  210 //n/*  ;  opinions 
of  Catuidian  society,  ;t02.  ;jl);t. 

(  harny.  son  and  succc-ssor  of  Lauson. 

;(2. 

ChaiTon,  aldernui  and  syndic  of  Que. 
bee.  I5;j. 


Chasy,  n.-ihow  of  Gm.  Tracy,  killed 

l)y  India  iv  I'll 
Chateau  St.  ('..•e.;,-,  419-1:21. 
(Jhatel,   a    nun   of    .<.sterhoi;i'  of    St. 

•'o>eph,    il. 
Chfitelain,   Fatliei,   \\h:   prciiig   di.'^po- 

sitioii,  lioU,  ;i5l. 

tJliaumonot,  a  .lesuit,  enyoy  to  Onon- 

^  (lai^as.  It).  17;  letter  of,  81.  S2  iiif,-. 

Chaumont,  Chevalier  dc.    memher  of 

Tracy's  staff,    178;  alllicted   with   a 

blister,  194. 

Chesnaye,  Charles  Aiibert  de  la,  letter 

of,  ;{25  iiofi ,  .'!20  niitr. 
Children,  bounties  on.  227:  ,  raiifvin'>- 
results  of  ih]<  policy,  228;  liaudot's 
oi)inion  of.  .'i7(»  not,'. 
Citiere,  La,  a  forfeited  i;rant,  249  note. 
Closse,  Major,  killed  by  Iro.juois.  58. 
Colbert,  .lean  Haptiste.'lett.M-  to  Terron, 
142,    14:5:  minister  of    Louis   XIV'., 
his   character   and    aims,    172-190; 
authoiities,    17^5  )ii't>'  ;    instructions 
to  'laloii,    209;    scolds    intendants, 
277;  instructions  as  to  .lesnits.  ;{;14, 
;i:i5;   letter  to  Talon,   410,   417;   to 
same.    4:{;j;  letters    to  Duchesneau, 
4.'i4.  4;J5. 
Coloinbiere,  vicar-cfp no ral,  culosrv  on 

Laval,  1(!5. 
Colonization,  military,  peculiarities  of, 

2;il.  2;i2. 
Communication  vith  France,  rarity  of. 

288.  ■ 

Conijiany  of  the  West,  its  creation  ;ind 

jiuriiose,     174  ;     how    it    oppressed 

anada,  li.>. 

Confessional,  the,  u-e  of.by  ,Tesuits,.351. 

Conversion  of  Iro<juiii'.-,  political  signif- 

iciiice  of.  ;{17. 
C<'il(s,  formation  of.  2.'!4. 
(.'ouiieil,  so\ereij;,ii.  reortranizjitiou  of, 
154;   constitution    ;ind    powers    of, 
^  207,  208;  in  ses-ion.  271.  272. 
Councillors    character  and    tenure  of, 

274. 
(.'ourcelle.     Sec  Ji'  iiuj. 
Counurg  ilf  //oif,  .'f  IO-;il3  ;  punishment 
of,  ."HO,  ;il  1  ■  their  return,  picture  of, 
;il2,   ;!i:i;    iis.^s   and    life,    'ILi-'ib^ ; 
missionaries'  complaints  of,  ;i2l. 
Coulume  de  Paris,  252. 
( 'rolo,  a  nun  of  Sisterhood  of  St.  .Tosejih, 

47. 
Curt's,  tl.xation  of,  101;  tiiis  policy  la- 
yored  liy  the  kine',  ;{;{8;  Deiionv'ille's 
views  on,  438-4 40. 

1). 

Dablon    a  .lesuit,  envoy  to  Onondat^a, 
10  ;  pieaclies  against  tJicutres,  347. 


•t* 


INDEX. 


443 


r&n.  Tracy,  killed 

19-421. 
Sistorhouii  of    St. 

li.    pryiiii:,   tli?po- 

t.  onvdv  to  ( )ii()ii- 
.•rof,  .SI.  S:>  iiiti'. 
r  (If.  iiu'iiihiT  uf 
;  aliliotfd   wiili   u 

LiiluTt  lie  la,  letter 

II.  -in  :  ,  ratifviiiiT 
lev,  -I-IS ;  Kaiu'lot's 

Ir. 

■d  i^rant,  2-tll  note. 
[  hy  IrcMiuuis.  58. 
te,  letter  to  Ternin, 
r  ot  I.diiis  XiV., 
(I  aims,  17-2-l'.Mi; 
tu'tc  ;  iiistnietiiiii^ 
scolds  iiiteiulaiits, 
as  to  .lesuits,  '<i'-\i, 
lion,  -lit),  417:  to 
•s    U)  Dueliesiieaii, 

jener.'il,  eulogy  on 

ry,  iiocu'iarities  of, 

h  France,  rarity  of, 

'st,  its  creation  and 
i')W    it    oppressed 

(■  of.hy  .Te-uils..'5,')l. 
apolitical  signif- 

2.14. 

n  orj^anization  of, 
;,Md    ]io\vers    of, 
,M.  271.  272. 
[vv  and    tenure  of, 

////. 

)-;{!.'! :  i>uni>linieut 
return,  picture  ot, 
md    lite.    ■■ii;!-:il5; 
plaints  of,  ;t2l. 
i."i2. 
ilioodof  St..lose|ih, 

nifil  ;  this  jioliey  Ui 


;i:{8;  Dcnoiivi 


lie's 


I). 


I). 


Dnnionrs,  Matthien,  member  of  Laval's 
council,  l^ifi;  arrest  of  iiis  sons,  2olt. 

Danlae,  Adam,  heroii'  •■nt"r|:rise  of, 
7'"{-82;  death  of,  81,  saved  ("iuiada 
from  invasion,  ,'^2  nnli' . 

Danxersiere,  I.e  lioscr  de  la,  founder 
of  Sisterhoiid  ot'  St.  .losepli.  42; 
sketch  <if,  4") ;  nnracle  wrought  in 
his  behalf,  4(>,  47. 

Deiuers,  his  eneouider  with  La  Fred- 
i.'re,  •■{(ill,  ;{70. 

Demons,  hov;  they  wroui^ht  af4ainst 
the  Jesuits,  .'51. 

Denonville,  j^overnor  of  (\'Uiada,  letter 
of,  -2:)^  i  ^  niniioiri',  2:)4.  .'Jll,  ;il2; 
])ricstly  counsel  as  to  his  umde  of  lite. 
344— '541! :  account  of  disorders  in  cnj- 
onv,  ;{7">,  •t7t! ;  his  views  on  reariui^ 
children,  ;{77  ;  letter  of,  on  I'uri's, 
4:i8-44U. 

Discov<'rv  of  the  Great  West,  reference 
to,  2i:}. 

Disorder  in  the  colony,  causes  of,  ;i74, 
;{7.'>. 

Dollierdet^asson.a  jtriest. extracts  from 
writiiiijs  of.  40  /m/c,  4!(  iiotf.  55,  58, 
00,  75,  187.  212,  227.  22!» ;  exploits  of, 
]i»4,  l!t5;  sent  to  I'nrt  Aniu-.  his  ad- 
ventures »-m  /-ow/c.  20!  :  his  welcome, 
202:  his  work.  20;i,  204  «"/(,•  a 
jieaci'Hiaker.  ;{72 ;  his  story  of  an 
outlaw.  ;(7-i. 

Drunkeimess,  most  destructive  vice  in 
the  eol(iny.  ;{78. 

Du  Hois,  ".lean  iiaiMiste,  a  Frei:ch 
otliccr.  depnted  to  lake  jiossession  of 
Mohawk  country,  1118 

Duchoneau,  iutendant,  letter  of,  257  : 
hlamed  for  non-increase  of  popula- 
ti(Ui,  277;  his  plan  to  eneourai;e 
lisheries,  2115;  cil.-d,  -iH),  ■ill,  :i77. 

I)u  Lhut,  a  f/tiilil/ioniiiii  nner,  2(il  : 
his  scheme  of  organizin,i;'  conn  iira  de 

Duniesnil,  aijent  of  <'onii»any  of  New 
FraiK'c.  l.'{2;  rai^csa  storm  at  <>ueiiee, 
|;!2.  l;;;i:  attempts  on  his  lite,  i;t4: 
error  of,  I-'{7  in  ft  ,■  his  oapers  seized, 
l.(!»,  140:  tiees  to  fran'ce,  141,  142: 
his  ])rincipal  memorial.  144  notv  ;  iiu- 
viiiiiv  concernin;;' aft^irs  in  ( 'amida, 
41l-4l;t. 

Dninont,  an  oihcer  sent  from  France 
iiiwii  of  ( 


ludiiiou  of 


imida. 


to    n  port    on 
l.'il. 
Dupuy,  I'aul,  puni>hed  ft.r  expresr-in: 


r.u  opmioii 


281. 


Dupuy,  I'aul,  ollicer  of  ( "ariirnan.  :{•»!» 
l)n  I'uvs.  /acharv.  2n ;    his  coolne-s 


livoy  to  Onondai;*, 
lust  tliealres,  347. 


) ;  e-caiic  o 


f.  ;!8,  :i!t. 


E. 

'"arthquako,  the,  12.>-!28. 
\arth-lide.-,  127  ami  nnti:. 
education,  controlled  hy  ecclesiastics, 

35!! ;    branches  of  learning   taught, 
^  3t)(J. 

'^els,  .fesnit  lisheries  of.  .'i.'iO  iiDic 
'Sections,     ituhlic,     proi)osed    hv     Do 

Mezy,  141.. 
'juigrants,  shipment  of,  begun,  215; 

process   of  sending,  "210 ;   character 

of,  217  and  note. 
emigration,  growth  of  Canada  by,  218 

imti'  ;  cessation  of,  2.'i0. 
Onulisii  eolonii's,  comi)arison  of,  with 

( '.luada,  causes  of  their  greater  pros- 

l)erity,  ;i!t(i. 
istrades,    A(arechal    d',    viceroy    for 

America,  17(J. 


Duraiitave,  La,  202,  iiO  iidIc. 


F. 

Faillon,  Abbe,  author's  indebtedness 
to,  (11,  (i2  iiDte. 

Fairs,  graml  annual,  .lO;],  .304. 

Ferland,  Al>he.  his  defence  of  Laval, 
113,  114:  ciied,  247  iiott. 

Ferte,  .luchereau  de  la,  member  of 
Laval's  council,  13ti. 

Feudalism,  transplantiui:  of,  243; 
essential  feature  of,  nukuown  in 
t'anadi',  245:  distinctive  feature  of, 
in  <';uiada.  248. 

Fiiuinees,  colonial,  condition  of,  21*1 - 
301. 

Fires,  how  thev  were  numaged  in  <  >ue- 
l.ec,  .!84. 

Flemisii  IJastard,  the,  a  haU'-l);'  Jk 
leader  of  .Mohawk>.  II.  IIU.  l!t2. 

I'ontainehleau,  court  of  Liuis  XIV.  at, 
lOlt. 

Fort  William  Henry,  site  of,  l!t3. 

!' ranee.  ( 'i>ii;idi;i  -  not  pernutted  to  re- 
turn to,  without  leave.  281. 

I'raiichetot.  Mathuriu,  captiu'e  of,  3. 

Frendu,  a  .le-uit  jtriest.  21. 

French  system  of  colonization,  one  ad- 
vantage of,  31)8. 

l''reiiehnien,  educated,  li>l  of,  •'Itlt!  iioW. 

I'ronteii.'ic.  •  'omit,  complains  ol  scarcity 
of  pe,i-ant  girl-.  220:  view^  on  tin 


lu'anilv  (lues 


lion.  328:  cited.  348. 


Fur  tiade,   the,  303;  its  irregulaniies, 
305  :    licenses,    3tt5  :    shi|inient    to 


Frai 
30' 


ice, 


30t' ;  ;iceimiiilation  of    furs, 


7;  a  moiioiioly,  307.  308:  another 
glut.  3011;  anllioritie-  on.  30;t  imh' : 
great  evil  rt.snliiug  troiu,  30lt,  310. 


,/-'^'''  :'■:•.  .v-"'^ 


444 


INDEX. 


g 


■r^' 


f!< 


ft" 


» 


f*- 


G. 

Gabdury,  Louis,  punished  for  eating 

nu'iit  iu  Lviit,  2H-i. 
G;ir;u'(Miti(',  an    Indian  chief,  friendlv 

tn  .Ii'siiits,  184. 
Gdrdi'n  (le  III  iiKtrhie,  aijpointnitfnts  to, 

'2.J1). 
Ganican,  cited,  217  note. 
Garre.iu,  a  Jesuit,  niunh'r  of.  31. 
Gaudais-Diiponl.  royal  ooinniissioner, 

l-it> ;      iiis    instruetiiiiis,     l.JO    imte ; 

lUfinorial  ti)('ullicrt  in  the  Duincsnil 

case,  401M11. 
G(  iifi/s/iiiiinnes,  2^u),  2.")(» ;  poverty  and 

idleness  of,  2")T ;  painful  ixisitiun  of, 

2tiO;    their    advcniunms    life,    2iil; 

tiifir  diseovcrifs.  2(11. 
Gift'ard.  a  prominent  citizen  of  Quebec, 

l-'iT   lldti  . 

Girls,  education  of,  305. 

Gode,  Nicolas,  55. 

(Jossip,   fondness  of   country   women 

for.  .'iS:. 
Government    of    Canada,    nature    of, 

204, 288. 
Governors  of  Canada,  rank  and  duties 

of.  2ti."),  2tJfi. 
Guiniout.  Louis,  a  pious  cripple,  3r>.3. 
Guioii,  Jean,  how  he  rendered  hoiUHge 

to  liis  seignior,  24ti,  247. 


II. 

TTiihitixntf,  tenure  of,  24,>.  240. 

Ilarlav,  Anlihiahopof  Uouen,  Colbert's 
letter  to,  222. 

Ilazeur.  huild>  a  saH-niill.  2i)3. 

Ileroy  dri\  -•■;  ')ut  of  (  anada,  354  ;  the 
searc!;  for  .:.  3,">4,  3r>5. 

Hi  nnitaice,  the,  Nicole's  arcount  of,  8l»- 
li'!;  object  of  fouiuler>.  !>;(  «o/(  ,•  his- 
tory a:id  purpose  of,  4()3-4()7. 

Herlel,  l'"ra.ic()is,  letters  of,  (;7,<i8;  his 
career    18. 

History,  Canadian,  Kuylish  concpiest 
ill'  ^aan-1  '  risi ;  of,  400,  401. 

H'(.,iiart,   iiifendant,  lii.s  otimate   of 

Cauadi;!?!'-,  .>:l. 

•Hoiv  hiiiiily.  ci,i-iny  in  honor  of.  43. 
Holy  r.iuiilv    i;«.-i,.'.rc!,Mtion  of.  a  -ource 

ot  itiforii.atinn  (•  ••  'he  prie-i^.  ;t.j2. 
Holy    hnnily    of    ,le>us.    Marv,   and 

•losenh.  >oldiers  of,  liO. 
Holy   Virgin,  proprietor  of  Montreal, 

♦il  and    III.  e ,    niira*  ulous  interpo.si- 

tiou  of,  70,  71. 
Honi.'i:r"of  vasr-al  to  .seignior,  how  ren- 

(iered.  24i;,  247. 


I    Huguenots,    conversion    of,    180-182; 
restricti((ns  on  merchants,  2l>l. 
Hunt,   I'rof.    ytenv,   on   earth-slides 
127  notv.  '  ■' 


T. 


Ibervi'le,  Le  Moyne  d',  201. 

Ignorance  of  Canadians,  3(;5,  30G. 

Imlian  converts  sent  against  New  Kntr- 
hiul,  318.  ■  ^ 

L;.ii.  (1  women,  reproductive  qimlities 
of.  228  11, .te. 

Indians,  education  of,  ]()3;  as  an  ele- 
ment of  jxipulation,  228  mitt'. 

Inns,    jieculiar    regulations    toucliin<' 
382,  383.  ^' 

Intendant.  the  royal,  rank  and  duties 
of.  2ti4-2(i(; ;  his  secret  report.^.  2(i(i 
274;  nominally  ruling  power  in  K-tA- 
ony,    275;    his    trouides,   275,   27(J ; 
ordinances  of,  277. 
Irreverence   to   (Jod,   punishment    of 

282. 
Isle  aux  Oies,  scene  of  attack  bv  Mo- 
hawks, 15. 


J. 

Jansein'sts,  the  doctrines  of,  88;  a  raid 
on^  !tl-!)3. 

Jesuits,  the,  programme  of,  \M:  |,riii- 
ciples  of,  lti(5:  desire(l  l.v  Indi.iiis, 
205:  their  self-devotion,  318 ;  iullu- 
ence  over  Indians,  31!»;  their  con- 
iH'cfiou  with  trade,  328-330  vote; 
watidied  by  order  of  the  king,  332; 
lon;,^  the  oiily  cmifessors  in  the  col- 
ony, .'i.'rj. 

''Jesuits  in  North  America,"  referred 
to.  !t. 

Joliet,  Louis,   establisheil   (isliing-sta- 

tiou.  2!t3. 
Jouaneaux,    his   misfortunes   and   his 

gratitude.  52.  53. 
.Liehereau.  .Mother,  .xtracts  from  \\Tit- 

ings  of,  17l».  212.  381. 
Judge,  ollice  of,  in  Canada,  270,  271. 
Junu'au,  ji  nun,  humility  ot.  52. 
Jurisdiction,  the.  of  >ev.Tal  triiuinals, 

2ti8.  2t!!):  of  intendant,  271. 
Justice,  administration  of,  271. 

K. 

Kalm.  a  Swedish  botani<l,  his  sketeh 
ol  <  aiiailian  trails  and  uwmners,  38!)- 
302. 

Knighthood,  a  I'amidian  onhr  of,  375. 


INDEX. 


445 


oductive  quiilltu'« 


iiu's  of,  88;  a  raid 

line  of,  !M> :  pviii- 

ircd  liy   Imliaiis, 

itioii.  'US  :  iiillw- 

;51!t ;   tlu'ir  coii- 

;{:i8-;5;(ll    note; 

tlu'  kiiif^s  -V-VI; 

<sors  ill  tln'  (.ol- 

lu'rica,"  rofcrrcd 

dii'il    lisliing-sta- 

rttincs   and   liis 

.irai'ts  from  AVTit- 


\n\<\,  liis  xkotcti 
id  maniu'i's,  IJH'J- 

au  order  of,  37'). 


L. 

La  Barrc,  cited,  353  note;  complains 
of  lawlcs.><n('ss,  37''(,  ■'174.  ;!77. 

La  Diirantayc,  a  Fnucli  ollict-r,  '2i\l. 

Lalitaii,  liis  book  on  Inxiuois  cited,  30, 
31,  //o^'. 

La  Fontaine,  Sir  L.  IL,  cited,  247 
note. 

La  Kreiliere,  Major,  his  iiccnliouaness 
and  tyranny,  3t)U,  370. 

La  Honian.  slictch  of  mothers  of  Can- 
ada, 220,  221  :  citr.!.  270,  2S4.  201, 
348;  otimale  of  Canadians.  388. 

La  .Icnne,  I'athei',  iM\  ilcd  to  choose  a 
l)i>liop  for  ( 'anada,  87. 

LaJcniant,  I'ather  .leronie,  reft-rence  to, 
113,  120,  122;  extracts  from  writin^^s 
of,  124,  125,45-2,  154;  cited,  322,  328 
?iiiti  . 

Lamoi^non,  president  of  parliament, 
120. 

La  Motte-Cadillac,  a  (/vi)tillii>ini)ie  rover, 
201;  cited,  334  liote,  34"i.  .'{50;  1ft- 
ler  of,  430,  437. 

La  Moiichc.  ne;.iie\s'  (.?'  .Vnuahotaha,  70. 

Langlcis,  Noid.  a  carpenter,  In-eomes 
f^^;  nilcnian,  2.")0. 

IjI\  I'otiierie  cited,  387. 

La  Salle,  201;  cited.  320,3,jl. 

La  Tesserie  appointed  member  of 
ciMincil   by   Me/y,    l.")4. 

La  'I'onr,  Altbe.  errors  of,  l.")5  Jiote : 
te>timony  as  to  (piarrel  of  Laval  and 
Mi'/.v,  158  note;  cited,  217  lO'tt, 
2lt8ron  fashions,  381. 

Lausoii,  j^dvernor  of  Canada,  decides 
to  establish  a  Kreiicli  colony  at 
(>in)n>.ana,  20 ;  his  iiielliciency,  23; 
his  manner  of  livini,^  381. 

Laval-Mi'iitmoreiicy,  I'rancois  Xavier 
de,  Alibi-  de  Mmitiuiiy,  sketch  nf, 
87,  88  :  his  traininir,  '.U."'.!.") ;  iiostile  to 
.Snlpilians,  07:  appointed  ii;rand 
vicar  apostiiiic.  07  ;  his  |)n>ition  and 
character,  103,  100;  returns  to  France, 
135:  effects  chan^^es  in  ;;overnment 
of  Canada,  135;  returns  to  Caiuida 
with  enlarged  powers,  130  ;  his  |)oiicy, 
137;  sources  of  his  strength.  l."i."»; 
letter  to  cardimds,  150;  lirsl  bisho|( 
of  (Quebec,  ItiO;  founds  a  seminary, 
100;  tixation  of  cines,  101;  how  he 
raised  fiind^,  102,  103;  his  character 
and  wurk,  104-108;  resif^nis,  and  is 
detained  in  I'fance,  ;;38  :  curresiiond- 
eiice  witii  Ariiciisoii,  407;  with 
Mc/.y,  414. 

Lavi^in-,  exploit  of,  50. 

Le  Hi'r,  merchant  of  Mtnitroal,  52; 
nnide  a  gentlemen  for  tiOOO  livres, 
25(). 


Le  Ber,  .leaiuio,  story  of,  350-359; 
.saves  the  country  from  English  inva- 
sion, 350. 

Le  Clerc  cited,  217. 

1^  Mattre,  a  priest,  41;  liis  murder 
ami  his  miraculous  handkerchief, 
55,  .50. 

L(^  Mercier,  Father,  extracts  from  letter 
of,  5;  cited,  11,  21;  valuable  fact 
about  rattlesnakes,  20;  citetl,  27, 
20. 

Le  Movne,  Charles.  73;  return  from 
cajiti'vity,  184;  sketch  of,  201-203 
and  iKiff. 

Le  Miiyiie,  Father  Simon,  envoy  to 
( *nond;ii;a,  11-14:  incites  Iroquois 
to  make  war  on  F.ries,  13,  14  ;  sent 
on  mission  to  Mohawks,  15. 

Leroles,  cousin  of  ;Mar((uis  do  Tracy, 
captured  by  Indians,  101. 

Lesdiguieres,  Duchesse  de,  Cliarle- 
V(»ix's  letter  to,  302. 

/.()(/.<  it  vtnt.cs,  mutation  tines,  250. 

Lormean,  an  en>iyn,  assaulted  by 
(  arioii,  371,  372. 

Louis.  Father,  prior  of  Jacobin  convent 
at  Caen,  140. 

Louis  Xn'.,  Kiiii;  of  I'rance,  his  acces- 
sion. 100;  his  positiiiu  and  character, 
170-172:  his  nitere-t  in  Canada,  218; 
faults  (if  his  rule,  284;  how  he  gov- 
erned, 285,  280  ;  not  a  prohibitionist, 
327;  liis  di.-trust  of  Laval,  334;  his 
respect  foreccloiastical  jxiwers,  331 ; 
his  liberality  to  ( 'anadian  church, 330, 
3.!7 ;  eltects  <if  h.is  intervi  iitioii  in 
government  of  (anada,  308,  300; 
im  nmlri  of,  to  MM.  Fronteiiac  and 
Champigny,  430. 

Louvigni,  liernieres  de,  founder  of 
Hermitage,  88;  his  belief.  00. 

Luciere,  La  .Miittede  la,  commandant  at 
Fort  St.  Anne,  202. 


M. 

Mace,  a  nun  of  sisterhood  of  St.  Joseph, 

40. 
Mjidry,  alderman  of  i^uebec,  153. 
Maillet.  treasurer  of  ."'^'-terhood  of  St. 

.Joseph,  42. 

.Mainteiioii,  .Madanu'  de,  how  she  ruled 
the  king.  28(),  287. 

Maisoniieuve,  Paul  (  honiedey  de,  gov- 
ernor of  .Montreal,  44., "ill;  hi-  pmcla- 
mation,  00.  01  ;  removed  In  Me/v, 
147. 

Manners  of  missitni  period,  381; 
Kalm's  acc».ui;t  of,  38if-302. 

Manufactures,  iinprovi'inent  of,  298. 

Marie  de  I'lucariiation.  letters  of,  180 


MTAI 


446 


INDEX. 


K. 
OK 


* 


I 


7wte,  181,  1S_>.  18:!.  1!U,  197,200,  217 
uoti.  21!l.  -J-J-',  -MJ. 

ISIarvrls,  visions,  and  voices,  124,  12'). 

Ma/arin.  vaiillati<iii  of,  84,  8."). 

Ma/('',  I'lionnc  dc  sun  ot  l>iMiicMiil, 
W-l,  i:U  laiipoiiitfil  niLMiiluTot  <dmi- 
cil  l)v  Mi/y,  \:A. 

Mc'L'tin'ji-s,  pwlilic.  rt'strictcd.  2S();  of 
nuTiliar.ts  t'orbiddi'ii,  -"iOl. 

Mental  iuiiirovcnii'nt  of  Canadians,  1505. 

^li'snu.  IVnvict  df,  M'crctan'  of 
LavaTs  ronmilj   l-'iti. 

Moidos,  his  lUi'iiiKti'i  I'itt'd,  H8l  tiotc. 

Mi'v.y.  Sienr  di',  a]>i>ointt'd  ,i;(ivt'nior  of 
Canada  at  Laval's  rciincst,  lit'); 
arrival  of.  \'M\:  >kyU\\  of.  14,5;  his 
piity  and  humility.  147  :  diaufiv  in 
his  "  cliaructfr.  148;  hnach  with 
Laval,  14M:  thivatcncd  with  wrath 
of  the  vhiirfh,  1^)0:  a])pi'als  to  the 
Jesuits.  lo(»-152;  removes  attorney- 
p'Ueral.  l.")2;  is  recalled,  IT).');  his 
death.  \:^^\.  \'u  \  his  will.  \'u  \  his 
char^'es  aptiust  Laval,  l.")S  ui>ti' ; 
conv.-pondence  with  Laval,  413,  414  ; 
letter  to  .Jesuits,  415.  41(J. 

Miehilliuuickinac,  centre  of  heaver 
trade,  .-ilit. 

Mill-  on  ihe  frontier.  %\^. 

Mi-sioii-days,  the  end  of,  ;{.'il. 

Missions,  ."ilti ;  hardships  and  horrors 
of,  ;il7,  ;i4:i ;  Lather  Carheil's  report, 
on.  ;il!t..'12():  effect  of,  on  jieople  and 
country,  ;iti8. 

Mituvemet;-.  an  .\li;on(|uin  ejnef.  7'). 

^loiiawks,  jiersistent  hostility  of,  18:1; 
puni-hmeiit  of,  Uto.  i'.KJ. 

IVIontniau'ny.  t;;f)vernor  of  (  anada.  107. 

Montreal,  state  of  an  arrival  of  .Mon- 
trealists.  4'.t,  ')():  Aru'enson's  opinion 
of,  117,  11^:  remnant  of  founders 
of.  84;  transferred  to  .Sidpitians,  84  ; 
de^eription  of.  -240.  241. 

Montiealists,  disinp-nuousness  of,  4'.) 
and  uiiti- ;  stilterinji's  of.  T)!. 

Morals  of  familie>  watched  hy  priests, 
;5+8 :  La  Hontan's  testimony,  34'J ; 
military  intluenee  on,  ;i(;;). 

Morel,  Lather,  his  parochial  i  har!;e,:j41. 

Morin,  a  nun  of  SistiM'hood  of  St. 
,]ose[)h.  her  aceount  (»f  Indian  at- 
tack. :>:!,  r)4;  letter  of.  :{i;!t. 

Municipal  regulations  in  Quebec,  383. 

N. 

New  Lnt;land,  colonists  of,  their  char- 
acter. ;iit7. 

New  Lrance,  Compa.nv  of.  its  reaninia- 
tion,  i;(2  ;  forced  to  give  up  its  clalais 
on  Canada,  130. 


Nicolls,    Ln;^lish    pivernor    of    New 

York,  jiropo.xes    con(|Uest    of   Caiui" 

da,  lUlt. 
Noliility,  Lrench.  peculiarities  of,  )l')i, 
jN'o///< ,<,s('.  a  ('anadian,  king    attemiils 

to  form,  227 ;  all  Canada  infatuated 

with,  2.")(>. 
Noel.  .lean,  renders  homage  to  IJritisli 

governor.  247. 
Noii!,   riiilippe,   father  of  Jiaii  Noel, 

247. 
Nuns,  devotion  of,  350. 

0. 

Orticers,    French,    niissionares'    coni- 

l>l.iiiits  of,  :i-2(). 
Oncidas,  ])crsistcnt  hostility  of,  183. 
Ormnnental  arts,  2lt8. 
Oiuliette,  a  monopolist  in  transport  of 

beavi.-r-skins,  3Uti. 

P. 

Perrot.  Nicolas,  author  of  MiCurK  <hs 
Siuiriit;)ii,  l!t2  iiiifi'. 

I'ijart.  leirerof.  against  (iuevlus,  80.  87. 

I'ilots.  lack  of.  2i)0. 

I'oncet.  a  desnit.  capture  of,  3;  narra- 
tive of  ailvenfures,  .■!-7  ;  release,  8. 

Population,  why  it  did  not  increase, 
'_>2lt  and  nott  ;  statistics  of,  •J;f7  iinti:. 

Poverty  of  colony,  causes  of  it,  380. 

Pretextata,  terrilile  punishment  of,  'UO. 

Priests,  rigid  piety  of,  344. 


Q. 

(Quebec,  alarm  at,  70;  description  of, 
2.'iS,  •23H. 

<^)ueylu-.Sulpilian  eiindidate  forlpi-lioji, 
84:  apjioiiited  vicar-gener.al  oi  (  ;in- 
ada,  8i") :  experience  at  <^ueliec,  S'y 
niitf  ;  ids  ])oliey,  80;  Yiger's  notice 
of,  87  uoti- ;  ojiTioses  Laval.  '.t7  ;  sent 
back  to  Lrance.  !I8;  returns  to  Que- 
bec; the  (juarnd  renewed,  and 
(Jupyhis  ayain  shipi»ed  to  Lrance:  a 
reconciliation  effected,  and  return-; 
to  Canada  as  a  missionary,  li'J-iU2. 


Ragnenean,  a  .Jesuit  priest,  spared  in 
a  massacri',  33;  referred  t«.  113; 
tells  a  strange  story  of  a  vi>ion,  120 
iioti  ;  Ills  intjuisiliveiiess,  3oU. 


INDEX. 


447 


cmor  of  New 
(|M«'>t   of  ("ana" 

ilifiritics  of,  2'A. 
.  kiiiiC  atttuiiil'^ 
iiiada  iufatiiati'd 

[imat?e  to  Ikitisli 

r  of  Jtau  Not'l, 

G. 


ssioiiur't's'    coiii- 
o^itility  of,  18:i. 
st  in  transport  of 


hor  of  Micurn  dis 

ist  Qucylus,  8(5. 87. 

)ttir('  of,  :{;  narra- 

,  ;i-7  :  n-lfasf,  8. 

(lid   not  iiicn-ast', 

i stirs  of,  '2-iT  iiott. 

M-s  of  it,  ;!.S0.  _ 

i-hnuMituf,  :!-4<i- 


lib 

mi 


'{):  di'scriiitiou  of, 

MJidatc  forlii-iio]>, 

-ui'iii'ral  of  (  aii- 

•  at    (^iiclifi',   8'> 

M\:   VifiiT's  notice 

s  Laval,  '.t7  ;  sfnt 

;  rt'tiinis  to  (^lt- 

n'ni'Nvt'tl,     and 

ipcd  to  Kraiuf  :  a 

ilfd.   and   n'tiinis 

.Monary,  'J'J-10'2. 


it  prifst,  spared  ui 
ivferred    t..    11-5; 

,rv  of  a  vi>ion,  i'20 
iW'UCss,  300. 


Riiisiii,   a  nun   of    Sisterhood  of    St. 

.I(i>e|pll,  47. 

IJauk.  yrades  of  social,  •J87. 

Kamdot,  iuleiidant,  his  opinion  of  Ca- 
nadian children,  :t7ti  //"'(. 

Itocollcis,  the.  ;f;ir) ;  their  collisions 
with  .Icsnils,  •'(.');{;  their  complaints, 

Ji<liiliiiii!<,  of  the  Jesuits,  excited  spirit 

of  adventure  in  France,  177,  IS'J. 
I{('lii;ion,   revival  of,  at  Quehoc,   128; 

in  the  wilderness,  picture  of,  ;U2. 
lit^n»y,  Haniel  de,  Sicur  de  Courcellc, 

a|»poiutiMl  y()\(  rnor  (d'  Canada,  ITU; 

rush    expeditiou    and    failin-e,    l.S(i- 

li»0:  its  effect  on  Indians,  ]',)(). 
Ilepentiu;ny,  mayor  of  tinehec,  l')'-i, 
liicliclii'u,    lirst    jdantcil   feudalism  in 

Canada,  244. 
Itivi'rin,    e^talilished    fisheries,     2i}3 ; 

joiut  iiiC'iidire  of,  42-i. 
Kome,  Chnreli  of,  stroni^est  inllueiice 

in  shajtiug  colony,  -iiiO. 


s. 


Saint  Andre'',  an  oniii^rant  shiji,  41. 
Saint   Anne,  du   I'elit  ("a]i,  shrine  of, 

how  it  was  huilt.  •'!ii;{ ;  favorite  saint 

of  ( 'anada,  '•\ii->,  •)ii4  imtt. 
Saint  Auj;u>tiii.  Mother  Catherine  de, 

her  vision,  120. 
Saint-Ca>tin,    a     (jiiilillionune    rover, 

2i;i. 
Saint    I'"elicit*'',    relics    of,  received  at 

giiei.ec,  ISO. 
Saint     I'lavian,   relics  of,  received   at 

()uel)cc,  18;). 
Saint  Lu-son.  took  possession,  fur  kin;^', 

of  upjicr  lakes,  21-!. 
Saint  Nlavy  of  (ianuiMitaa,  mission  of, 

21)  and  iinti-. 
Saint  Ours,  destitution  of,  2")8. 
Saint   IVre,  Jean,  suhjt'ct  of  miracle, 

Saint  Simon,  iiivntoiris  of,  cited,  280, 
287. 

Saint-Vallier,  Laval's  successor  in 
bishopric;  how  lie  undid  Laval's 
work,  ;t:i!):  his  character,  ;];!!);  dis- 
cordant ojiiuions  of,  as  to  condition 
of  people,  .'i77,  •■{78. 

Saints  ill  ( 'anada,  ^i.")"). 

Salaries  of  public  oiiiccrs,  284,  285  and 

Salieres,  colouel  of  rei^imeut  Cari.uiian- 

Sa  lit 'res.  181. 
Schools,  true  luirjiose  of,  :{(!():  Laval's, 

3iil  ;  successful  oidy  in  making  good 

Catholics,  ;jli-4. 


Seigniorial  tenure,  its  discussion,  2")3 

iidli . 
.Seigniors,   militarv,   how   thev  lived, 

2:{:i-2:{.j;   civil   s/r^^/.v  of,   24rt,   240, 

248  ;  ]iowers  (d',  2.")2. 
Seminarv,  foimded  bv  Laval,  lOU;  its 

weallli,  IO:i.  104. 
Ser\ants,  shiins  of,  28-!. 
Settlers,  tlieir  hardships,  241,  242. 
Ship-hidlding,  bi'ginning  of,  "iUS. 
Slaxcrv  in  Caiwula,  beginning  of,  .'588; 

ludi'aiis  enslaved.  ;i88. 
Social  jiieasures,   regulation   of,   -'J44- 

.■!47,  and  •147  /mte. 
Societ  V  at  (Jiu'bec,  featiu'es  and  quality 

of,  ;58(>,  ;i87. 
Sulpitians,    a    religious    organization, 


T. 

Tadoussac,  a  trading  station  at  mouth 
ol  Sauueuay,  2:!7 ;  «ale  oi  brandy 
])erudtted  at.  ■'!20. 

Talon.  Jeau  Maptiste,  royal  inteiulant 
of  ( 'anada,  170:  his  ]iersoiial  appear- 
ance and  (jualilicatious,  207;  essays 
to  gal\ani/e  the  colouy,  2()'.t ;  in- 
au^iirates  eounnereial  and  nuinii- 
facturiug  enterprises,  210--21:!:  his 
probity.  214:  letters  to  Colbert,  418; 
iiii'iiKiii-t  Oil  state  of  (.'aiiaila,  4'i2, 
4:i;i. 

Taxation  in  Canada.  -iDl,  .')02. 

Teinpei'ance  meeting,  lir.-t  uii  the  con- 
tinent. :522. 

Temi)eraiice  (inestion,  the,  121  ;  free 
sale  of  brandy.  12:!,  ;i22. 

Tilly,  Le  (iardeur  de,  member  of  La- 
val's ciiuucil.  UiO  ;  reappointed, 
ir,4. 

Torture  of  prisoners  permitted  by 
.lesiiits,  0!)-7l  »"/( . 

Torture  iiermitted  by  I'rench  law,  and 
])ra<'tise(l  in  Canada.  28:{.  284. 

Touches,    rc'rolllle  lies,   son  of    DuUU'S- 

nil.  killed  by  violence,  l-'!4. 
Tourineiite,    Cape,    view    from,    ;i02, 

ao.'j. 

Tracy.  Marquis  de.  lieutenant-general 
of  Canada,  arrival  of.  177.  178:  his 
vin'oroiis  policy,  181  ;  ex|ie(lition 
against  Mohawks,  l!)2:  most  suc- 
cessful of  all  expeditions  iigainst 
Indians,  200. 

Trade,  right  of  nobles  to  engage  in, 
200;  restriction  of.  28,1.21)0;  great- 
est evil  of,  21(2;  statistics  of,  2l'2 
iii>lt' ;    Deiionville's    letter   on,  422, 

42;i. 


■^^ 


mmm. 


MiMPfPP 


'iiv. 


aWZU^ 


INDEX. 


V. 

Vaipiiuos,  Ki'iit^  (tiiultior  do,  a  Froiicli 
oli'niTwIiu  iiiarrii'd  u  brido  of  twt'lve 
vtiii'^,  2\1~  iitili . 

V;i>-iMir.  nil  cuuiiuH'r,  extract  from  let- 
ter i.f,  ;i84.  ;{8:). 

VtMiiitlrvi',  Vuri'iiiu's  do  la,  discovorcr 
(if  Kinky  Mdiiiitaiiis,  birth  of,  227 
noli . 

Viyiial.  (luillamiit'  ilf,  a  jiricst,  41; 
killfd  and  catfii  l>v  IrO(junis,  57. 


illaiifs,  laliiii 


::((;. 


Villt  ra\ ,  Uoucr  df,  inciulii'r  of  Laval's 
(OutK  il.  l-l(l:  Ari;iMi>«>n's  opiiiinii  of 
him,  i'iS;  l)ani>lii'd  by  M*/.y,  loo. 


Vitrv,  Sit'iir  do,  aided  in  establishing 
fisiuM-y,  2l»;t,  21»4. 

w. 

Witcln's,  sraroity  of,  ;]5r» ;  a  Huguenot 

^|H■^•ilnt'll,  ''ih't. 

Wives  for  settlers,  supplied  bv  tlie 
kiii^,  \i\U;  their  cuiaiity,  2[\\ :  for 
ollieers.  "si'leet  yniiiif;  ladii  ~,"  2l!t; 
a  j^liit  of  demiii-ellis.  ■J'J'I :  eharat  ter 
(if,  liJit;  uialriiuniiiai  re'^ulatiinis, 
22-J,  -J-J;!:  "mixed  };('<.d>."'  -J-j:! : 
matrimiiiiial  market  at  (^)uebee,  ■22'.'>- 

Women,  ironuoi;",  political  riglitt;  of, 
;K>  noti. 


a? 


Cambridge  :   PrewH  of  John  Wilmm  A  Son. 


(1  in  establishing 


^55 ;  a  Hu/s^uciiot 

siiiiplicd  l)y  tilt? 
ijUiility,  'ilii:  lor 
iiiifi'  ladit  -,"  '21'.t ; 
•-.  -J^'l ;  iliarai  li'i- 
iuial  nuulatiniis, 
'd  H(»o.l>."  -J-J.!; 
■t  at  (^iflu'c,  •2-2-'>. 
olitkal  riglits  dt', 


